--- title: Maya Angelou Facts You Might Not Know description: Fun Maya Angelou facts from her country music obsession to her love for Uggs. canonical: https://time.com/123110/11-facts-you-might-not-know-about-maya-angelou/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-28T16:15:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:44.022Z og:title: 11 Facts You Might Not Know About Maya Angelou og:description: She loved wearing Uggs, watched 'Law & Order', and listened to Carrie Underwood og:url: https://time.com/123110/11-facts-you-might-not-know-about-maya-angelou/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 11 Facts You Might Not Know About Maya Angelou twitter:description: She loved wearing Uggs, watched 'Law & Order', and listened to Carrie Underwood twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # 11 Facts You Might Not Know About Maya Angelou > Sponsored content. 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Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer May 28, 2014 4:15 PM UTC _Maya Angelou, renowned American poet and author of_ I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, _has_[ _died at 86_](http://time.com/123036/maya-angelou-a-hymn-to-human-endurance/)_. Here, NewsFeed rounds up some fun facts you maybe didn’t know about the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Arts._ • She **wrote Hallmark greetings**: Her Random House editor disapproved of her decision to lend her words to a line of cards, bookends, and pillows, arguing it was too commercial. But as she [told _USA Today_](http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/books/2002/2002-01-10-maya-angelou-full.htm), “If I’m America’s poet, or one of them, then I want to be in people’s hands…people who would never buy a book.” • She says at 16, she was the **first black streetcar conductor in San Francisco.** “I loved the uniforms,” she [told Oprah Winfrey](http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Maya-Angelou-Interviewed-by-Oprah-in-2013). • She [**drank sherry while she wrote**](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/growing-up-maya-angelou-79582387/?no-ist)**.** • Her **favorite clothing item:** [**Uggs**](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/04/10/maya-angelou-how-i-write.html). • She **watched** [**_Law & Order_**](http://parade.condenast.com/31341/erinhill/31-maya-angelou-activism-country-music/)_._ • A **country music lover**, she listened to Carrie Underwood, Blake Shelton, Montgomery Gentry and Jennifer Nettles from Sugarland. “I’ve been seriously affected by the breakup of Brooks & Dunn,” [she told ](http://parade.condenast.com/31341/erinhill/31-maya-angelou-activism-country-music/)[_Parade_](http://parade.condenast.com/31341/erinhill/31-maya-angelou-activism-country-music/)_._ “They broke up after 20 years and I’ve been seriously offended by that!” • She **wrote cookbooks:** The author of _Great Food, All Day Long_ and _Hallelujah! The Welcome Table,_ she believed people won’t overeat if they eat what they want when they feel like it, such as “fried rice for breakfast,” [she told _The Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/nov/02/maya-angelou-no-for-apologies-cookbook). • She was a **guest star on** **_Sesame Street_**. Watch a pink puppet character grab her nose while she plays a name game using only words that begin with the letter “N.” • She was **“disappointed” that one of her poems was in an explicit rap** song [by Common](http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/maya-angelou-says-shes-disappointed-with-common-after-collaboration/?%5Fphp=true&%5Ftype=blogs&%5Fr=0). Another fun fact: **Kanye West** likes to compare himself to Maya Angelou, arguing that they are both [“true poets.”](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20334348,00.html) • In the 50s, she **danced in** **_Porgy and Bess,_** a nationwide tour of the George Gershwin opera about American poverty and racism that the U.S. Department of State sponsored. She was singing at nightclubs when she got the role, she [told _NPR._](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125457527) • She was **friends with Nelson Mandela**, and they first met while she was a journalist in Cairo in 1962\. Shortly after his death in Dec. 2013, she recited a poem in memory of the former South African president in a video that has racked up more than 1 million views on the YouTube channel for the U.S. Department of State. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/123110/11-facts-you-might-not-know-about-maya-angelou/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/123110/11-facts-you-might-not-know-about-maya-angelou/"},"headline":"11 Facts You Might Not Know About Maya Angelou","datePublished":"2014-05-28T16:15:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:44.022Z","description":"She loved wearing Uggs, watched 'Law & Order', and listened to Carrie Underwood","url":"https://time.com/123110/11-facts-you-might-not-know-about-maya-angelou/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Appreciation"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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