angelou was born marguerite annie johnson in st. louis, missouri on april 4, 1928, the second child of bailey johnson, a doorman and navy dietitian, and vivian (baxter) johnson, a nurse and card dealer. angelou's older brother bailey, jr., nicknamed marguerite "maya," derived from "my" or "mya sister." when angelou was three and her brother four, their parents' "calamitous marriage" ended, and their father sent them to stamps, arkansas, alone by train, to live with their paternal grandmother annie henderson. in "an astonishing exception" to the harsh economics of african americans of the time, angelou's grandmother prospered financially during the great depression and world war ii because the general store she owned sold needed basic commodities and because she "made wise and honest investments".