I keep seeing mentions of Maya Angelou’s nomination as Best Supporting Actress in “Roots” in 1977, but that’s not so. There is no record of a nomination for her in any category. She had a bit part backing up Cecily Tyson.
Following Maya is like trying to follow Stanley Ann Dunham. Each bio I read has contradicting information and dates. All I have been able to establish is she moved to Egypt with her ‘freedom fighter’ husband - her sponsor in Egypt was the stepson of DuBois; her marriage broke up, she moved to Ghana where she held a number of positions under Nkrumha, while the elder Du Bois was living in Ghana, before he died, in 1963. In 1964 Maya met Malcolm X in Ghana where she arranged to come back to the US to work for him. She left her son in Ghana, spent some time in Hawaii with her brother - before or after Malcolm X was assassinated. Whilst in Hawaii she sang in nightclubs.
There are many bio’s of Maya. Several totally ignore the Ghana period, several have her returning in 1965 instead of 1964.
This profile has her moving to Egypt in 1961:
http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/mayaangelou/p/bio_angelou_m.htm
excerpt:
In 1961, Angelou moved to Egypt after marrying Vusumzi Make, a South African dissident. After divorcing in 1963, she moved to Ghana where she worked as a teacher at the music and drama school at the University of Ghana. She returned to the United States in 1966, ...
But the year of return to the US is clearly WRONG. In a number of interviews she clearly states she returned to the US BEFORE the MX assassination, that took place on February 21, 1965.
Curious fact: Maya and Vusumzi Make were not formally married. Another fantasy divorce?