Maya Angelou doing a little reading in her dressing room before her performance at the Village Vanguard in New York City. Long before she was a poet and writer and the icon we know today, Dr. Angelou was a dancer and singer of folk and calypso songs (she even recorded an album in 1957 called “Miss Calypso”) and appeared in the film “Calypso Heat Wave” that same year. This photo was taken by G. Marshall Wilson, who was a staff photographer at Ebony for 33 years. Photo: Art.com
She is exquisite. Check out her newest book Mom & Me & Mom; she writes about this era in her life. It’s lovely. She’s EVERYTHING. And her younger years reveal how much she had in common with the same Black women who are slandered for not being “respectable" enough today. Read this book. And of course read I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings if you haven’t already. ❤