Classify Maya Angelou

[Heather Duval]

Ethnicity: African-American, likely 1/8th Irish

Maya Angelou was an American poet, actress, author, and civil rights activist. She was the daughter of Vivian Althea (Baxter) and Bailey J. Johnson. She was African-American, and likely had an Irish-born maternal great-grandfather.

Maya’s paternal grandparents were William Johnson (the son of Simon Johnson and Emaline Lankford) and Annie Taylor or Henderson (the daughter of Emanuel Taylor and Mary Kentucky Wafford). Mary Kentucky was the daughter of Wash Wofford and Ailsie.

Maya’s maternal grandparents were Thomas Baxter (the son of Addison Baxter and Jane) and Marguerite/Margaret Savin/Sabin/Seamus or Lee (the daughter of Mary Lee). Maya’s grandmother Marguerite is believed by some researchers to have been the biological daughter of John Savin, who was born in Ireland. Marguerite’s mother, Mary Lee, was African-American.

A DNA test whose results were displayed on the show African American Lives 2 (2008) stated that Maya’s genetic ancestry is:

*77% Sub-Saharan African
*23% European

http://ethnicelebs.com/maya-angelou

[Xacal]

Griffe

[Tauromachos]

Her surname sounds Greek

[Astarte]

Her surname sounds Greek

Her first husband was Greek.

[Heather Duval]

Her surname sounds Greek

Marguerite Annie Johnson[4] was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928, the second child of Bailey Johnson, a doorman and navy dietitian, and Vivian (Baxter) Johnson, a nurse and card dealer.[5][note 1] Angelou's older brother, Bailey Jr., nicknamed Marguerite "Maya", derived from "My" or "Mya Sister".[6] When Angelou was three and her brother four, their parents' "calamitous marriage"[7] ended, and their father sent them to Stamps, Arkansas, alone by train, to live with their paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson. In "an astonishing exception"[8] to the harsh economics of African Americans of the time, Angelou's grandmother prospered financially during the Great Depression and World War II because the general store she owned sold needed basic commodities and because "she made wise and honest investments"

[Heather Duval]

In 1951, Angelou married Greek electrician, former sailor, and aspiring musician Tosh Angelos, despite the condemnation of interracial relationships at the time and the disapproval of her mother.[24][25][note 3] She took modern dance classes during this time, and met dancers and choreographers Alvin Ailey and Ruth Beckford. Angelou and Ailey formed a dance team, calling themselves "Al and Rita", and performed modern dance at fraternal black organizations throughout San Francisco, but never became successful.[27] Angelou, her new husband, and her son moved to New York City so she could study African dance with Trinidadian dancer Pearl Primus, but they returned to San Francisco a year later.

[Odin]

Griffe.