(CNN) -- A literary voice revered
globally for her poetic command and
her commitment to civil rights has
fallen silent.
Maya Angelou died at her home in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on
Wednesday, said her literary agent,
Helen Brann.
The 86-year-old was a novelist,
actress, professor, singer, dancer and
activist. In 2010, President Barack
Obama named her the recipient of
the Medal of Freedom, the country's
highest civilian honor.
One of Angelou's most
praised books was "I
Know Why the Caged
Bird Sings."
The memoir bore witness
to the brutality of a Jim
Crow South, portraying
racism in stark language.
Readers learned of the
life of Marguerite Ann Johnson
(Angelou's birth name) up to the
age of 16: how she was abandoned
by her parents and raped by her
mother's boyfriend. She was
homeless and became a teen
mother.
Its publication was both daring and
historic given the era of its debut in
1969.
"All of the writers of my generation
must honor the ground broken by
Dr. Maya Angelou," author Tayari
Jones posted on her Facebook page
Wednesday.
"She told a story that wasn't allowed
to be told," Jones said. "Now, people
tell all sorts of things in memoir, but
when she told the truth, she
challenged a taboo -- not for shock
value, but to heal us all."
Black American novelist Julian
Mayfield is said to have described
the autobiography as "a work of art
which eludes description."
She was also a big friend/admirer of Max Roach.
BN.
globally for her poetic command and
her commitment to civil rights has
fallen silent.
Maya Angelou died at her home in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on
Wednesday, said her literary agent,
Helen Brann.
The 86-year-old was a novelist,
actress, professor, singer, dancer and
activist. In 2010, President Barack
Obama named her the recipient of
the Medal of Freedom, the country's
highest civilian honor.
One of Angelou's most
praised books was "I
Know Why the Caged
Bird Sings."
The memoir bore witness
to the brutality of a Jim
Crow South, portraying
racism in stark language.
Readers learned of the
life of Marguerite Ann Johnson
(Angelou's birth name) up to the
age of 16: how she was abandoned
by her parents and raped by her
mother's boyfriend. She was
homeless and became a teen
mother.
Its publication was both daring and
historic given the era of its debut in
1969.
"All of the writers of my generation
must honor the ground broken by
Dr. Maya Angelou," author Tayari
Jones posted on her Facebook page
Wednesday.
"She told a story that wasn't allowed
to be told," Jones said. "Now, people
tell all sorts of things in memoir, but
when she told the truth, she
challenged a taboo -- not for shock
value, but to heal us all."
Black American novelist Julian
Mayfield is said to have described
the autobiography as "a work of art
which eludes description."
She was also a big friend/admirer of Max Roach.
BN.
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