Mom and Me and Mom

'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 & ME & 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 & ME & MOM shares the intimate, emotional story about her own family.

“Extraordinary . . . a jaw-dropper of a memoir”

-- Viv Groskop Red
A brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman
The poems and stories she wrote . . . were gifts of wisdom and wit, courage and grace
She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds -- Oprah Winfrey
She was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents - used ten. And was a real original. There is no duplicate -- Toni Morrison

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.

Mom and Me and Mom reveals the triumphs, struggles, and profound moments that shifted the balance of love and respect between Maya Angelou and the larger-than-life figure of her mother after a decade of separation. When her marriage had begun to crumble, Vivian Baxter sent three-year-old Maya and her older brother away from their California home to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. Mom and Me and Mom traces the story of a rich, rewarding, and fraught relationship, and its role in fostering the author's rise from immeasurable depths to reach impossible heights. "an extraordinary tale" Sunday Times "Angelou's book deftly avoids the emotional neatness and easy redemption to which lesser memoirs succumb" Financial Times

'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 & ME & 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 & ME & MOM shares the intimate, emotional story about her own family.

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