Maya Angelou passes away

[Matriarch]

This greatly saddens me. Maya was a creative visionary and pioneer.

I have often found many of the quotes of her work to be most profound to humanity’s struggle to find happiness in an imperfect world.

RIP Maya.

Maya Angelou, a renowned poet, novelist and actress whose work defied description under a simple label, has died, her literary agent, Helen Brann, said Wednesday.

She died at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Brann said.

A professor, singer and dancer, among other things, Angelou’s work spans different professions. She spent her early years studying dance and drama in San Francisco, California.

After dropping out at age 14, she become the city’s first African-American female cable car conductor.

Angelou later returned to high school to finish her diploma and gave birth to her son a few weeks after graduation. While the 17-year-old single mother waited tables to support her son, she acquired a passion for music and dance. She toured Europe in the mid-1950s with “Porgy and Bess,” an opera production. In 1957, she recorded her first album, “Calypso Lady.”

In 1958, Angelou become a part of the Harlem Writers Guild in New York and also played a queen in “The Blacks,” an off-Broadway production by French dramatist Jean Genet.

Affectionately referred to as Dr. Angelou, the professor never went to college. She has more than 30 honorary degrees and taught American studies for years at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

“I created myself,” she has said. “I have taught myself so much.”

Angelou was born on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. She grew up between St. Louis and the then-racially-segregated Stamps, Arkansas.

The famous poet got into writing after a childhood tragedy that stunned her into silence for almost a decade. When she was 7, her mother’s boyfriend raped her. He was later beaten to death by a mob after she testified against him.

“My 7-and-a-half-year-old logic deduced that my voice had killed him, so I stopped speaking for almost six years,” she said.

From the silence, a louder voice was born.

Her list of friends is as impressive as her illustrious career. Talk show queen Oprah Winfrey referred to her as “sister friend.” She counted Martin Luther King Jr., with whom she worked during the Civil Rights movement, among her friends. King was assassinated on her birthday.

Angelou spoke at least six languages, and worked as a newspaper editor in Egypt and Ghana. During that time, she wrote “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” launching the first in a series of autobiographical books.

“I want to write so well that a person is 30 or 40 pages in a book of mine … before she realizes she’s reading,” she said.

Angelou was also one of the first black women film directors. Her work on Broadway has been nominated for Tony Awards.

Before making it big, the 6-foot-tall wordsmith also worked as a cook and sang with a traveling road show. “Look where we’ve all come from … coming out of darkness, moving toward the light,” she has said. “It is a long journey, but a sweet one, bittersweet.”

Legendary author Maya Angelou dies at age 86 - CNN

[Raz0r]

ggpo

[WTF-AKUMA-HAX]

matriarch you so vanilla, bean - flavorless thread title.

(what the hell was sonic abid talking about women and “beans” what part of the woman is the bean, please no “beaner” joke again. you maize jellybean)

[Jaxxx]

so sad!

[Dj_Hyper_Kid]

RIP Ms. Angelou. I remember when me and my mother met you back when I was super young. Very humbling.

[Zarga]

Rest in Peace/Heaven.

[Sonichuman]

R.I.P.

[MIRACLEARROW]

Is it just me or every time you hear her name does it remind you of…

[details=Spoiler]Hard Knock Life by Dr Evil

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/9jZiKFLL6MI/0.jpg[/details]

No disrespect… to ya b… RIP

[Black_Convoy]

The earth will become less wonderful. RIP Maya.

[HyperGear]

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

― Maya Angelou

R.I.P.

[xiceman191]

Spoiler

http://www.motivationalquotesabout.com/images/quotes/am-convinced-that-most-people-not-maya-angelou.jpg

http://data3.whicdn.com/images/73774392/thumb.jpg

http://www.quotesdump.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Maya-Angelou-Famous-Quotes-and-Sayings-Deep-About-Haters.jpg

A great interview she did with Dave Chappelle there are 3 other parts on youtube.
R.I.P Maya Angelou

[Great_Dark_Hero]

R.I.P.
… Maya Angelou…

[Gravity]

R.I.P.

[Kashiyukasthighs]

Don’t really know her aside from the Boondocks episode where she got kidnapped instead of Oprah.

RIP though =\

[white_shadow]

I knew of all her accolades and heard a few of her poems, but I was unaware of her strife and her enduring spirit through all of it.

Rest In Peace, Maya Angelou

[Syke1]

If the time stamp doesnt work just skip to 10:45. R.I.P. Ms. Angelou
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntSfUZx0zWE#t=10m45s

[xiceman191]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBZVbwmqKb0
go to 4:40

[angelpalm]

Spoiler

http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121109043047/boondocks/images/1/12/Ed_Wuncler_III.jpg

I though ya’ll was talking about Oprah…

[Starhammer]

Spoiler

http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121109043047/boondocks/images/1/12/Ed_Wuncler_III.jpg

I though ya’ll was talking about Oprah…

It wouldn’t be surprising if Oprah was inspired by her, but it’s not Oprah.

-Starhammer-

[a15kko]

And Still I Rise…RIP