We continue our month of historic female figures by focusing on Maya Angelou and Toshiko Akiyoshi. Maya Angelou is a well respected artist and activist who worked alongside some of the biggest names in the Civil Rights Movement and courageously wrote about her tumultuous upbringing in multiple autobiographies. Toshiko Akiyoshi moved from Japan to America in the 50s to pursue a career as a jazz musician and became one of the most well respected figures in the genre, working with huge jazz stars such as Norman Granz and Charles Mingus.
