Mom and Me and Mom

For the first time, Maya Angelou - one of America's most celebrated memoirists and poets - shares the deepest personal story of her life: the story of her relationship with her mother.

'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 and Me and 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 and Me and Mom shares the intimate, emotional story about her own family.

About the Author

In addition to her autobiography, Maya Angelou has written several volumes of poetry, including On the Pulse of the Morning for the inauguration of President Clinton. She has a life-time appointment as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University.