Question

Is Maya Angelou a protagonist or antagonist?

Answer 1

Maya Angelou was a real person — poet, memoirist, and civil-rights activist — not a fictional character who can be neatly labeled as a protagonist or antagonist in general. In her autobiographical works (most famously I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings) she is the protagonist: the narrator and central figure whose life and growth the books follow. The “antagonists” in those books are the people and social forces that oppose or harm her (for example an abuser early in her life and the systemic racism and segregation she describes), rather than Angelou herself being an antagonist.

Do you mean a specific book, film, or portrayal where she appears? I can answer more precisely with that context.