Mom and Me and Mom

　　21012823'In the first decade of the twentiety century, it was not a good time to be born black, or woman, in America.'

　　So begins this stunning portrait of Vivian Baxter Johnson: the first black woman officer in the Merchant Marines, purveyor of a gambling business and rooming house, and mother to one of our most cherished literary treasures.

　　Anyone who's read the classic, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, knows Maya Angelou was raised by her paternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. In Mom & Me & Mom, Angelou details what brought her mother to send her away and unearths the well of emotions Angelou experienced long afterward as a result. While Angelou's six autobiographies tell of her out in the world, influencing and learning from statesmen and cultural icons, Mom & Me & Mom shares the intimate, emotional story about her own family.

　　Review

　　Extraordinary . . . a jaw-dropper of a memoir (Viv Groskop Red)

　　A brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman (President Barack Obama)

　　The poems and stories she wrote . . . were gifts of wisdom and wit, courage and grace (President Bill Clinton)

　　She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds (Oprah Winfrey)

　　She was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents - used ten. And was a real original. There is no duplicate (Toni Morrison)

　　Biography

　　Dr Maya Angelou was one of the world's most important writers and activists. Born 4 April 1928, she lived and chronicled an extraordinary life: rising from poverty, violence and racism, she became a renowned author, poet, playwright, civil rights' activist - working with Malcolm X and Martin Luther King - and memoirist. She wrote and performed a poem, 'On the Pulse of Morning', for President Clinton on his inauguration; she was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama and was honoured by more than seventy universities throughout the world.

　　She first thrilled the world with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969). This was followed by six volumes of autobiography, the seventh and final volume, Mom & Me & Mom, published in 2013. She wrote three collections of essays; many volumes of poetry, including His Day is Done, a tribute to Nelson Mandela; and two cookbooks. She had a lifetime appointment as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University of North Carolina. Dr Angelou died on 28 May 2014.

　　'A brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman' President Barack Obama

　　'The poems and stories she wrote . . . were gifts of wisdom and wit, courage and grace' President Bill Clinton

　　'She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds' Oprah Winfrey

　　'She was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents - used ten. And was a real original. There's no duplicate. There is no duplicate' Toni Morrison