An extraordinary woman passed into history, lighting up its pages as she did with innumerable people whose lives she touched with her words. Maya Angelou became one of America’s greatest poets after going through a traumatic childhood as she had to face a lot of difficulties being an African-American woman during the period of racial segregation in the 1950s. She was even tortured and raped by her mother’s partner. She displayed her courage and resilience by becoming not only the first African-American woman, but the first woman to become a streetcar conductor in San Francisco at the tender age of 16.
By the time she was 40, she had been a newspaper editor, an actress, prostitute, dancer and much more. She turned author after publishing her memoir ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’. She was a professor at the Wake Forest University for a brief period of time. Angelou also played a huge role during the American Civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. and was among the leading activists. Her illustrious life as a poet came to an end on Wednesday. She was 86 years old when she died at her home in North Carolina.
Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama mourned the death of Angelou as she had played an influential role in both these individual’s lives. She was presented with America’s highest civilian honor known as the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama back in 2011. President Obama paid tribute by calling her “one of the brightest lights of our time”.
Her expertise spanned beyond prose and poetry as she wrote six books of poetry and five volumes of autobiography. Angelou was also quite active on Twitter. Her last tweet was posted on May 23 which read- “Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God”. The world has truly lost a noble soul.