Beginning of Essay
Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928, in California (Lupton 1). When she was three years old her parents divorced. Her father then put her and her brother on a segregated train from St. Louis, California, to Stamps, Arkansas, to live with their grandmother (2) ....

Middle of Essay
.... could be a lesbian, so she invited a classmate of hers to come over and have sex with her. This resulted in pregnancy. She gave birth to her son, Guy, a month after she graduated from high school in 1945 (“Maya” 18). When she was growing up, she suffered from people being racist toward her. For example, when she was younger her grandmother took her to a white dentist that refused to put his hands in a black persons mouth (Arensberg 118). Occasions like such convinced her that she had to take the pain and move on. Much of Maya Angelou’s writing stresses the themes of courage, self-acceptance, and realization of one’s life (“Maya” 18). ....