About the scenes depicted in the comic: I read in a few obituaries that as a girl Angelou was “packed off by her family to California after sassing a white store clerk in Arkansas” which I illustrated as the first scene. In the 1950s Angelou spent many years as a popular calypso dancer. In fact, she changed her name from Marguerite Johnson to Maya Angelou around that time to help draw crowds to her performances. While living in Ghana, Angelou befriended Malcolm X and later supported Martin Luther King Jr and the NAACP during the civil rights struggle. She also called Nelson Mandela a friend, meeting him shortly after his release from prison. Finally, in 1993, Angelou recited her poem On the Pulse of Morning at Bill Clinton’s inauguration.

Visit Maya Angelou’s official website to find out more about this phenomenal woman.