Typewriter used by Maya Angelou
date: label: date made
content: 1980
name: label: maker
content: Adler & Co.
notes: label: Description
content: This Adler Meteor 12 electric typewriter was manufactured in West Germany. It belonged to Maya Angelou (1928–2014).
label: Description
content: Maya Angelou was a renaissance woman; she was a dancer, actor, screenwriter, poet, professor, and memoirist. She is perhaps best known for her multivolume autobiography which began with "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" (1969). Angelou’s memoirs not only detail her life as a daughter, mother, activist, friend, and artist, but they also demonstrate how her life experiences as a Black girl and woman informed her involvement in political, social, and cultural causes. The typewriter was a critical tool which Angelou used in her writing and publication process.
label: Description
content: In her memoirs, Angelou describes her time in New York City during the 1950s and 1960s as important for deepening her connection with the civil rights movement. Angelou was a key organizer of the Cabaret for Freedom, a fundraiser for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and worked as the organization’s northern organizer. Through this work, she met Martin Luther King, Jr., and collaborated with many Black artists who supported the civil rights movement. She later married a South African anti-apartheid activist, and they moved to Egypt, where Angelou worked as a journalist. After the marriage ended, she and her son moved to Ghana, where they lived for several years. These experiences contributed to her interest in African politics and culture, and connections between the United States, Africa, and the African Diaspora.
label: Description
content: Angelou was a prominent supporter of women’s rights. She wrote “To Form a More Perfect Union” for the 1977 National Women’s Conference. Runners conveyed the scroll from Seneca Falls, New York, to Houston, Texas, the site of the conference. The scroll on which her work is written is in the National Museum of American History’s collection (1978.0307.18).
label: Description
content: In January 1993, Maya Angelou read her poem “On the Pulse of Morning” at the inauguration of President William J. Clinton. Clinton recalled that he chose Angelou to participate in his inauguration because of her accomplishments and their shared connections to small-town Arkansas.
place: label: place made
content: West Germany
setName: label: See more items in
content: Political History: Political History, Women's History Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Steve Soboroff
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2021.0187.01
label: accession number
content: 2021.0187
label: catalog number
content: 2021.0187.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: typewriter
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal; plastic; rubber (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 in x 16 1/4 in x 12 3/4 in; 10.16 cm x 41.275 cm x 32.385 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 in x 15 1/4 in x 13 1/4 in; 12.7 cm x 38.735 cm x 33.655 cm