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4 Extra Debut. 1965: Back from Africa, Maya is to start working for Malcolm X, but tragedy strikes when he is assassinated. Starring Don Gilet.

When Maya Angelou returns from Ghana the first person she calls is Malcolm X.

She wants to spend some time with her mother and brother in San Francisco before she begins working with Malcolm in New York.

Then Malcolm is assassinated.

Devastated, Maya is shocked by people's apathetic reaction to the news.

Maya Angelou's memoir dramatised in five parts by Patricia Cumper.

Narrator, older Maya ...... Adjoa Andoh
Maya ...... Pippa Bennett-Warner
Malcolm X ...... Don Gilet
Bailey ...... Samuel Anderson
Mother ...... Ellen Thomas

The books that make up the life and times of Maya Angelou are some of the best, most beautiful and haunting pieces of autobiography written.

They run the gamut from life affirming to tragedy and back again with a tone that is a joyous, direct and searingly honest, and are an extraordinary portrait of 20th-century black America.

Director: Pauline Harris

First broadcast on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 in February 2019.

Available now

14 minutes

Last on

Tue 19 Dec 2023 02:15
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra

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Episode 2A Song Flung up to Heaven

See all episodes from Maya Angelou's Autobiographies

Broadcasts

  • Mon 25 Feb 2019 10:45
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
  • Mon 25 Feb 2019 19:45
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
  • Mon 18 Dec 2023 07:15
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra
  • Mon 18 Dec 2023 12:15
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra
  • Mon 18 Dec 2023 17:15
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra
  • Tue 19 Dec 2023 02:15
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra

10 surprising things you might not know about Maya Angelou

Intriguing facts about her extraordinary life.

14 famous people who have been inspired by Maya Angelou

Maya’s life, work and wisdom inspired many people to achieve great things too.

10 incredible Maya Angelou quotes to live your life by

Astonishing words from one of the 20th Century's most iconic writers and poets.

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Dramatisations of Maya Angelou’s autobiographies, plus specially selected archive.