# data[].attributes.body
This short video will introduce you to Destiny Discover and how to search for a book in our library catalog.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Destiny Discover: How to Search for Books.webm

# data[].attributes.body
This Google slideshow includes many leaders in Black History. Watch the short videos within the slideshow to learn more about each of these leaders.

# data[].attributes.body
Watch this video to learn about black scientists and inventors such as Mae Jemison and George Washington Carver.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Black History Month - Black Scientists and Inventors Part 1 (Animated)

# data[].attributes.body
Watch this video for a fact on Black History for each letter of the alphabet.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The ABCs of Black History Month | African-American History

# data[].attributes.headline
The Breathtaking Courage of Harriet Tubman

# data[].attributes.subject
The Breathtaking Courage of Harriet Tubman

# data[].attributes.body
Watch this video to learn about the life of Harriet Tubman.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The breathtaking courage of Harriet Tubman - Janell Hobson

# data[].attributes.headline
Black History Month-National Geographic Kids

# data[].attributes.subject
Black History Month-National Geographic Kids

# data[].attributes.body
Visit this website to learn about how Black History Month started and how it is celebrated today.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Every February, people in the United States celebrate the achievements and history of African Americans as part of Black History Month.

# data[].attributes.body
This PBS Kids video will give you information on how Black History Month began.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
PBS LEARNING MEDIA | Black History Month | PBS KIDS

# data[].attributes.body
National Geographic Kids has information on 15 leaders in Black History.

# data[].attributes.headline
Destiny Collections for Black History Month

# data[].attributes.subject
Destiny Collections for Black History Month

# data[].attributes.body
In Destiny Discover you will find a collection of books that we have at BMS about Black Leaders in History. All of these book are available for check out in our library.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Collections by Follett is a new, collaborative way for educators to collect and share resources from anywhere, at any time, and with anyone.

# data[].attributes.headline
Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race

# data[].attributes.subject
Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race

# data[].attributes.body
Watch the video below to learn the true story about four black mathematicians who worked at NASA.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race-Read Aloud

# data[].attributes.body
Click on the link below to read the Time for Kids article about Martin Luther King Jr.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) is considered one of history's greatest speakers and social activists. His leadership in peaceful protests helped end segregation during the American civil rights movement.

When Martin Luther King Jr. was born, his parents, Michael and Alberta, gave him a different name from the one we know today. They called him Michael. But Michael Sr. later changed his name and his son's to Martin Luther, after the famous religious leader. The middle-class family was very religious. Both Martin's father and grandfather were pastors in Atlanta, Georgia. The King children grew up in a loving home but experienced racism from an early age.

Separate Is Never Equal

King attended segregated public schools in Georgia. He skipped the ninth and eleventh grades and graduated from high school at 15. It was around that time that he joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a civil rights organization. King's father led the NAACP's Atlanta chapter.

In 1948, King graduated from Morehouse College, in Atlanta. He went on to study religion at Crozer Theological Seminary, in Chester, Pennsylvania. In 1951, he graduated with honors and was class valedictorian. Soon after, he enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Boston University (B.U.), in Massachusetts. He met music student Coretta Scott in Boston. The couple married in 1953 and later had two sons and two daughters.

In 1954, while completing his degree, King moved to Montgomery, Alabama. He became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Soon after, on December 1, 1955, a woman named Rosa Parks was arrested after refusing to give her seat to white passengers on a Montgomery city bus. In response, the NAACP chose King to lead a citywide bus boycott. For 381 days, members of the black community walked or carpooled to work. Many of them were attacked.

The NAACP filed a lawsuit against the city of Montgomery. They argued that segregation on city buses was unconstitutional. On November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such segregation was indeed illegal. The court based its decision, in part, on Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. In that case, the court concluded that "separate is never equal."

One year later, King, along with 60 ministers and activists, founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

"I Have a Dream"

In the spring of 1963, King organized a protest in Birmingham, Alabama. The event drew nationwide attention. That's because city police officers blasted participants with fire hoses and let attack dogs loose. King and others were jailed.

After their release, King and other civil rights leaders laid plans for a demonstration in the nation's capital. The March on Washington attracted more than 200,000 people. On August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. He spoke of a day when all men would be treated equally. King went on to win the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize. He was 35 years old and the youngest person to have received the honor.

Reaching the Promised Land

The fight for equal rights, however, was far from over. On March 7, 1965, demonstrators set off on a 54-mile march, organized by King, from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. The event became violent when police met marchers with nightsticks and tear gas on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, in Selma. Seventeen people ended up in the hospital. King was not present, but he watched the scene unfold on TV. Soon after, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The law stated that all citizens had a right to vote, no matter the color of their skin.

On April 3, 1968, King traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, in support of striking sanitation workers. In a speech there, he said, "I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land." The next day, he was shot while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, where he was staying. The assassination ended King's life. He was 39 years old. It sparked riots in more than 100 cities. The accused shooter, James Earl Ray, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

"I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the United States, King's birthday is observed as a national holiday on the third Monday in January. On that day, many Americans volunteer at shelters, schools, hospitals, and other community organizations to honor the civil rights leader's legacy of service and commitment.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) is considered one of history's greatest speakers and social activists. His leadership in peaceful protests helped end segregation during the American civil rights movement. When Martin Luther King Jr. was born,...

# data[].attributes.body
Click on the link below to read the Time for Kids article about Ruby Bridges.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In 1960, Ruby Bridges (September 8, 1954-present) walked through the doors of William Frantz Elementary School, in New Orleans, Louisiana. By doing so, she became the first African-American student to attend an all-white elementary school in the Southern United States.

On November 14, 1960, Ruby Bridges became a symbol of the U.S. civil rights movement. She was just 6 years old. Her simple act of going to an all-white school marked the beginning of integration for U.S. public schools.

Bridges was born in Tylertown, Mississippi, on September 8, 1954. A few months before her birth, the Supreme Court-the nation's highest court -had issued a ruling on five combined cases that would impact not only Bridges's life, but also change the course of American history.

In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the prosecution wanted to end the idea of "separate but equal schools." In many places in the U.S., black students and white students could not attend the same school. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in U.S. public schools was against the constitution. In his opinion, Chief Justice Earl Warren stated that "in the field of public education the of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are unequal . . ."

Although it was illegal to have segregated schools, some states-especially in the South-did not follow the ruling. The Supreme Court was aware of the resistance and took action. A year after the ruling, the court declared that the desegregation of public schools should advance with "all deliberate speed." Five years later, little Ruby would become the first student to a Southern elementary school.

A Promising Student

When Bridges was 4, the family moved from Mississippi to New Orleans, Louisiana. Her parents hoped a new city would offer better job opportunities. Her father, Abon, found a job working as a gas station attendant and her mother, Lucille, worked nights to help support their growing family.

Bridges attended kindergarten in a segregated school in New Orleans. But in 1960, a federal court ordered that Louisiana all of its public schools. Bridges was a good student. She was chosen to be part of a small group of black students who would take an exam given by the school district. The exam determined which students would attend the all-white schools. Bridges was one of six black children who passed the exam. She enrolled in William Frantz Elementary School. It was just blocks from her home.

At first, Bridges's father refused to enroll his daughter in the all-white school. He feared some would seek revenge on the family. However, her mother convinced him that it was the right decision. She believed their daughter would get a better education at an all-white school. Bridges's parents were unable to read or write. On November 14, federal marshals escorted Bridges and her mother to her new school.

School of One

In a 1997 interview with PBS NewsHour, Bridges recalled preparing to leave for her new school. She remembered looking out the window of a car driven by a U.S. marshal. "Driving up, I could see the crowd," she said, "but living in New Orleans, I actually thought it was Mardi Gras."

The angry crowd chanted, "Two, four, six, eight, we don't want to integrate." They tried to block the entrance to the school. While Bridges and her mother sat in the principal's office, hundreds of parents entered the school and removed their children from their classrooms. "They didn't see a child," Bridges later said in the PBS special series The African Americans. "They saw change and what they thought was being taken from them."

The next day, Bridges was led past the screaming crowd and into the school by four marshals. When she arrived at her classroom, she found a teacher but no students. Her teacher, Barbara Henry, was a Boston, Massachusetts, native who had moved to the South hoping to help schools integrate. She was the only teacher willing to teach Bridges. "She would greet me, take me to my classroom, and it was just her and I," said Bridges. Although Bridges and Henry remained in the classroom alone, neither missed a single day of school that year.

A Lasting Legacy

The following school year, Bridges attended second grade at William Frantz. This time, the crowds had disappeared, and her classroom was full of students. In 1963, she was immortalized in a now-iconic painting called The Problem We All Live With, by artist Norman Rockwell.

In 1999, Bridges established the Ruby Bridges Foundation to teach tolerance to students. The following year, she was made an honorary deputy federal marshal in Washington, D.C. "I am so proud to have received such an honor," she said. "Deputy U.S. marshals are peacemakers and advocates of justice."

In 2014-54 years after she attended her first day of school at William Frantz-a bronze statue of 6-year-old Ruby Bridges was unveiled in the school's courtyard. "We need to honor the power of children," she said at the ceremony. "We need to encourage them that they can do extraordinary things."

Today, Bridges is an author, activist, and public speaker. She continues her work helping people learn to be more accepting of others.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In 1960, Ruby Bridges (September 8, 1954-present) walked through the doors of William Frantz Elementary School, in New Orleans, Louisiana. By doing so, she became the first African-American student to attend an all-white elementary school in the Southern United States....

# data[].attributes.body
Click the link below to read about Jackie Robinson.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play baseball in the modern era of the major leagues. He played as an infielder and outfielder for the Brooklyn Dodgers from...

# data[].attributes.body
Click the link to read about Jackie Robinson.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kids learn about the biography of Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play Major League Baseball. He was a Hall of Fame player for the Brooklyn Dodgers who wore number 42.

# data[].attributes.body
Watch the video below to learn more about the life of Martin Luther King Jr.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - MLK Day! (Animated) Black History Month Video

# data[].attributes.body
Click the video below to learn more about Rosa Parks.

# data[].attributes.body
Click the link below to read the article from Time for Kids about Misty Copeland.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Misty Copeland grew up in Southern California in the 1980s. She had five siblings, so she often had to compete for attention. Misty was shy and quiet, but she taught herself to do cartwheels and handstands, and pretended to perform for an audience. She imagined the applause when she did all her moves just right.

In middle school, Misty decided to try out for the drill team, a type of dance group. She wanted to be captain. Her big sister had been a star on the same team, and her mom had been a professional cheerleader. Could Misty, the girl who was afraid to read aloud in class, really take center stage?

GARY GERSHOFF-WIREIMAGE

Misty did her best at the audition and wowed the coach, who had studied ballet. She knew Misty had a gift. The coach suggested Misty talk to Cindy Bradley, the ballet teacher at a Boys & Girls Club. Cindy offered Misty free ballet classes, and Misty accepted.

The classes were grueling, but every leap and spin filled Misty with joy. In two months, she was dancing on pointe-on the tips of her toes-a skill that takes most dancers years to master. A few months later, she got a lead role in The Nutcracker.

Meanwhile, Misty and her family were living in a motel room. The bus ride from there to the ballet studio took hours. Misty's mom said Misty would have to give up the ballet lessons. Misty was devastated. Cindy asked if Misty would like to live with her during the week so she could continue her lessons and go home on weekends. Misty's mom agreed.

EVIN SULLIVAN-DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA/ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/ GETTY IMAGES

Misty took advanced classes and got better and better, dazzling audiences with her skills. But she had never actually seen a live ballet performance by professional dancers until Cindy took her to watch American Ballet Theatre (ABT) perform Don Quixote. ABT was one of the top ballet companies in the world, and the main ballerina, Paloma Herrera, was only 19 when she became a star. Misty watched Paloma and dreamed of someday becoming an ABT principal dancer.

Dancing Star

Misty was the first Black woman to become a principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre. Her career at the company began in 2000, when she was invited to join its demanding training program for young dancers. In 2001, she became a member of the corps de ballet and performed in large group scenes. At the time, she was the only Black woman in the 80-person company.

With her darker skin and muscular body, Misty stood out. She didn't let that stand her way. "You can be who you are," she says. "You don't have to look like the person next to you." Misty inspired people from diverse back- grounds to take up ballet. In the dance world, there is a name for this phenomenon: the Misty Effect.

MIREYA ACIERTO-GETTY IMAGE

Fast Facts

Most ballet dancers begin training at a young age, but Misty didn't take her first lesson until she was 13.

Misty is involved with ABT's Project Plié. It brings ballet training to communities where it hasn't been available before.

Misty is also an author. Her first book for kids, Firebird, is about a young dancer with brown skin.

Misty appeared in a music video for Prince's version of the song "Crimson and Clover," in 2009.

In 2012, Misty had surgery to repair a fractured bone in her left leg. She quickly bounced back from the injury.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
This is Misty: Read the Story of Misty Copeland

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Misty Copeland grew up in Southern California in the 1980s. She had five siblings, so she often had to compete for attention. Misty was shy and quiet, but she taught herself to do cartwheels and handstands, and pretended to perform...

# data[].attributes.body
Visit the website below to learn more about Michael Jordan.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Michael Jordan was one of the best basketball players of all time. He led the Chicago Bulls to six National Basketball Association (NBA) championships. He was called Air...

# data[].attributes.body
Click the link below to read about Simone Biles in Time for Kids.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Simone Biles was a bright, bubbly, bouncy little girl. She couldn't sit still, and her favorite place to be was the trampoline in her grandparents' backyard, where she flipped and twisted in the air for hours. Any move her siblings could do, she could do too.

Simone was born in 1997. When she was 6 years old, her day-care group went on a field trip to a gym. Simone loved watching the gymnasts train and perform. She couldn't just watch them, though-she had to try their moves. She was so good that one of the coaches sent a letter home with her, inviting Simone to take gymnastics classes.

CRAIG BARRIT/GETTY IMAGES FOR SK-II

Simone loved the classes, and she was excellent at climbing, swinging, jumping, and tumbling. She had a lot to learn, though. Most of the gymnasts in her class had started lessons when they were toddlers. At 6, Simone was the oldest child in her class. That would change quickly.

Several times a year, the gym held exhibitions to demonstrate the gymnasts' skills. At one of these, young gymnasts had to climb 10 feet up a rope, using just their arms and holding their legs straight in front of them. Simone was so strong that she climbed 15 or 20 feet into the air and had to be coaxed back to the ground.

The coaches could hardly keep up with Simone. When one girl performed a standing back tuck, Simone was sure she could do one too. Her coach didn't believe her, so Simone tried the trick and nailed it on the spot.

At 9, Simone learned why she couldn't sit still: She had ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). Her brain moved fast and her body did too-which made it hard for her to concentrate in school but which also made her an amazing gymnast. "The challenges we face help define who we are," Simone wrote. "My challenge is also my superpower: ADHD." Simone's superpower would help make her one of the most dynamic gymnasts ever seen.

Medal Winner

Simone is one of the greatest athletes in history. At age 16, she won two gold medals at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, including the all-around (the total score from competing in all events). She has now won 25 world medals, 19 of them gold. That's the most in world gymnastics history.

Simone competed in her first Olympics in 2016. She was the first female U.S. gymnast to win four gold medals in an Olympic Games. Since then, Simone has debuted moves never successfully done in competition, including a double-double dismount from the balance beam. The move became known as the Biles. Several signature moves have been named after Simone.

ALEX LIVESEY-GETTY IMAGES

Fast Facts

Simone is the most decorated female gymnast in America.

One of her signature moves is a triple-double (double backflip with three twists in the air). It's known as the Biles II.

She is the first Black woman to win an Artistic Gymnastics World Championships all-around title-and she's won this title five times.

Simone is the first woman gymnast to win three consecutive all-around world titles.

At the 2018 World Championships, Simone had a painful kidney stone. She still won gold and collected the all-around title.

JARED WICKERHAM-GETTY IMAGES

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
This is Simone: Read the Story of Simone Biles

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Simone Biles was a bright, bubbly, bouncy little girl. She couldn't sit still, and her favorite place to be was the trampoline in her grandparents' backyard, where she flipped and twisted in the air for hours. Any move her siblings...

# data[].attributes.headline
Flying High: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles

# data[].attributes.subject
Flying High: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles

# data[].attributes.body
Click the video below to watch the read aloud.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Educational Videos for Students (Cartoons on Bullying, Leadership & More)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Muhammad Ali Biography (History for Kids) Educational Videos for Students Cartoon Network (CN)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Storytime Books Read Aloud: COUNTING ON KATHERINE: HOW KATHERINE JOHNSON SAVED... by Helaine Becker

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Maya Angelou   Little People, BIG DREAMS

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Ronald Erwin McNair (October 21, 1950 - January 28, 1986) was an American NASA astronaut and physicist. His first space mission was STS-41-B aboard Space Shuttle Challenger in 1984. After this mission, he was again on Challenger for STS-51-L. He died at the start of this mission when the space shuttle was destroyed during the launch. He was the second African American in space.

McNair was born in Lake City, South Carolina. He earned degrees at North Carolina A&T State University ( B.S.) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( Ph.D.). He also held four honorary doctorates and many fellowships. He was married to Cheryl Moore. The couple had two children.

On January 28, 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch. McNair and all six others aboard died.

Images for kids

First three African-American astronauts to go to space, including McNair, Guy Bluford and Fred Gregory from the class of 1978 selection of astronauts.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ronald Erwin McNair (October 21, 1950 - January 28, 1986) was an American NASA astronaut and physicist. His first space mission was STS-41-B aboard Space Shuttle Challenger in 1984. After this mission, he was again on Challenger for STS-51-L. He died at the start of this mission when the space shuttle was destroyed during the launch.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Maya Angelou, born Marguerite Ann Johnson (April 4, 1928 - May 28, 2014), was an American author and poet. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, and several books of poetry. Maya took part in several plays, movies, and television shows spanning more than fifty years. She received dozens of awards and over thirty honorary doctoral degrees. Angelou is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of seventeen which made her famous.

Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the second child of Bailey Johnson, a doorman and navy dietitian, and Vivian (Baxter) Johnson, a nurse and card dealer. When Angelou was three, her parents' marriage ended, and her father sent her and her siblings to Stamps, Arkansas, alone by train, to live with their paternal grandmother Annie Henderson. Henderson's general store had done well during the Great Depression and World War II, and she "made wise and honest investments."

Four years later, the children's father returned them to their mother's care in St. Louis. At the age of 8, Angelou suffered a phsycological trauma and became mute for about 5 years. She and her brother were sent back to their grandmother.

A teacher and friend of her family, Mrs. Bertha Flowers, introduced Angelou to authors such as Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, Douglas Johnson, and James Weldon Johnson. These authors would affect her life and career as well as other black female artists like Frances Harper, Anne Spencer, and Jessie Fauset. Angelou said that Flowers helped her speak again.

When Angelou was 14, she and her brother moved in with their mother once again, who had since moved to Oakland, California. During World War II, Angelou attended the California Labor School. Before graduating, she worked as the first black female streetcar conductor in San Francisco.

Before becoming a poet and writer, Angelou tried other occupations as a young adult. Maya worked as a fry cook, a dancer and performer, a cast member of the opera Porgy and Bess, coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and a journalist in Egypt and Ghana during the days of decolonization. She was an actor, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, and public television programs.

Starting in 1982, she taught at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she held the first lifetime Reynolds Professorship of American Studies. She was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X.

During the 1990s, she made approximately eighty appearances a year as a lecturer, something she continued into her eighties. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at President Bill Clinton's inauguration. She was the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961.

Angelou died of natural causes on the morning of May 28, 2014, in her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She was 86 years old.

Awards and honors

Angelou was honored by universities, literary organizations, government agencies, and special interest groups. Her honors included a Pulitzer Prize nomination for her book of poetry, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie, a Tony Award nomination for her role in the 1973 play Look Away, and three Grammys for her spoken-word albums. She served on two presidential committees and was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2000, the Lincoln Medal in 2008, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. Angelou was awarded over thirty honorary degrees.

Maya Angelou quotes

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty."

"Courage is the most important of all the virtues because, without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently."

"You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it."

"The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise."

Interesting facts about Maya Angelou

"Maya" was a nickname given to Marguerite Ann by her brother.

After Angelou's rough childhood, she graduated from high school and gave birth to her son Guy a few weeks later.

Angelou became a calypso singer and dancer near San Francisco.

Angelou's literary talent was noticed by James O. Killens, the spiritual father of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s. He encouraged her to join the Harlem Writers Guild.

Maya moved to Ghana in 1962 and worked as an administrator at the University of Ghana.

She accompanied Malcolm X back to the United States to help him build his Organization of Afro-American Unity.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed on her 40th birthday. In mourning, she refused to celebrate her birthday for years after his death, choosing instead to send flowers to Dr. King's widow.

Although she never attended college, Maya learned and experienced much in her adult life. She preferred to be referred to as "Dr."

Angelou wrote her works in a hotel room. She authored autobiographies, cookbooks, and even greeting cards.

She added the word "joy" when she signed her books.

Images for kids

Maya Angelou speaking at a rally for Barack Obama, 2008

Angelou at York College in February 2013

In Spanish: Maya Angelou para niños