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Contributions to the Film Industry

Dr. Maya Angelou, award winning writer, director and poet, had a career in film which is rarely talked about. Angelou was the director of one feature film and writer of two screenplays for television movies. Trying to accomplish something that was seemingly impossible for an African American female in the 60’s and 70’s made Maya Angelou a historical figure in the film industry. However, after landing a job at 20th Century Fox as a writer and producer, Angelou began her works. Though Angelou’s first feature film was a success, there were many hardships on her journey to this point. When Maya Angelou was first asked to write the screenplay she said she would consider it but she would rather direct it. After negative remarks and being told she had no chance directing the film, Angelou wrote the screenplay, Georgia, Georgia. This 1972 film portrays a black female who goes to Stockholm to become and singer, while there she meets an American deserter who she falls in love with. She is warned on more than one occasion to "stick to her own kind", but dismisses the warnings. Angelou was disappointed by the turnout of the film, and recalls it being “grotesquely misunderstood”. After being encouraged by someone she refers to as “Mother Baldwin”, to continue her work, she did just that and moved on to her next piece. .

Angelou wrote the screenplay for the 1982 TV movie Sister Sister which received critical praise. Subsequent to taking a course at The Swedish Film Institute, Maya Angelou, age seventy, began directing her first feature film, Down in the Delta (1998). This award winning film starred actress Alfre Woodard and Wesley Snipes revealing the tale of a woman who starts a new life in Mississippi with her brother and uncle after drugs and alcohol lead her to neglecting her daughter. She is put to work at her uncle Earl's restaurant and he informs them of their family history. Angelou won two awards for the movie including the Audience Choice Award and the Prism Award for Theatrical Feature Film, in addition to eight nominations. .

Maya Angelou was becoming an icon for African American women in film, given the title of the first black woman director. She made a headline in an article First Black Woman Director Readies Film, written by Duston Harvey in. He introduces director Maya Angelou to the audience by saying, “When the cameras start rolling in a small central California farming town, Maya Angelou will become the first black woman to direct a Hollywood film.” Angelou set the precedence for many other black female directors to follow in her footsteps; many are making the initiative today.