The son of the renowned American poet, singer, writer, memoirist, and civil right activist, Maya Angelou was born in 1945 in the United States of American, San Francisco in Carlifornia.
Maya Angelou had her son, Guy Johnson who was born as Clyde Johnson at the age of seventeen(17) three weeks after she completed school. Angelou in her autobiography “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” revealed that she conceived Guy Johnson after having sexual intercourse with a guy just to prove that she is not a lesbian.
After Angelou safely delivered her son, Guy Johnson, she engaged in a lot of business ventures and worked a number of jobs just to support herself and also cushion the life of her son and for this reason, they always moved around the world.
Guy Johnson or Clyde Johnson after graduating from the University of Ghana, Legon, he worked as a bartender in Spain, also worked on oil rigs in Kuwait, he also operated a photo-safari service in the Sahara and also had a twenty-years experience while working with the government of Oakland in Carlifornia.
Picking inventiveness from the story of his family in writing his “Standing At The Scratch Line” in 1998, Guy Johnson who happens to be a first-time novelist based his protagonist LeRoi “King” Tremain on the memories of his late grandfather and the stories about his family.
Guy Johnson also picked up the kind of work and discipline writing requires from his mother, Maya Angleou and even after working so many year as a municipal administrator, Guy Johnson in an interview with Random House expressed his excitement in beginning his career as a writer. Additionally, he mentioned how much he enjoyed growing up with exposure to a variety of artists and having a mother who supported reading and creativity.
Guy Johnson has been recognized and celebrated by many as one of the most outstanding writers or authors in the world. His works were highly commended and hailed by many and was also included in the Anthology, “My Brother’s Keeper”.
He wrote other well-known books like “Save The Stratford Canal!(1993), “The Echoes of the Distant Summer”(2002), “On The Outside; Pathway In and Out Of Homelessness”(2008), “Remotely Funny”(2017), “You People Living State Out-Of-Care”(2011), “Evaluation of the Melbourne Street of Home Program”(2013), “Entries And Exits From Homelessness; A dynamic of the relationship between structural conditions and individual characteristics”(2015), “Who Stays, Who Leaves And Why”(2018), among many famous books.
Guy Johnson was married to Stephanie Floyd-Johnson and were blessed with two sons namely; Colin Ashanti Murphy-Johnson and Elliott Jones. Guy Johnson died at the age of 77 on February 16 2022 and a statement was posted on his mother, Maya Angelou’s official Facebook page. The statement shared on Facebook indicated that Guy Johnson passed away peacefully on that fateful Wednesday at his residence in Oakland, Carlifornia.
In Guy Johnson’s late 20’s, he was reported to have been involved in a car accident which damaged his spinal cord and left him paralyzed temporary.
Guy Johnson was also reported to have a very uncordial relationship with his son, Colin Ashanti Murphy-Johnson after the latter used money from an intellectual property company(Caged Bird) to sponsor his extravagant lifestyle.
Guy Johnson even had to sue his own son, Colin after leveling allegations against him of attempting to cut him out of a 75% stake of the Intellectual Property Company he had set up with him to manage and honor Guy’s mother, Maya Angelou’s works who was a grandmother to Colin.
However, it was unclear as to whether Colin managed to settle scores and made peace with his father before his death on February 2022.
Guy Johnson’s other son, Elliott Jones is also a well known philanthropist, Community Leader, Ally and the founder of Ensure Progress. Jones was originally raised on Oakland in California and later moved to Queens NY to enroll in the St.John’s University and graduated in 2008.
After graduation, Jones worked for William “Bill” Lynch Jr., who was a renowned politician in New York City. This is where he developed an interest for the complexities of politics and how policies affect people’s lives. In 2010, Jones worked in the Liberty City neighborhood where he observed how the community was plagued with gun violence which mostly ensnare children.
Jones and a group of brilliant artists aimed to make a statement and pay tribute to the victims, families, and communities who are all affected by the tragedy in their initial effort to raise awareness of this epidemic of gun violence and their efforts produced the painting you see above and helped revive Sherdavia Jenkins Piece Park.
Jones is still fighting for sensible gun legislation and has partnered with Moms Demand Action on Gun Sense in America, Everytown for Gun Safety, and Mothers Fighting for Justice to speak at events, take part in activities, and appear on panels in an effort to advance this important cause.
In 2019, Jones returned to Oakland where he works as a Community Specialist for the world’s largest hospitality company, Airbnb.
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