Last week the world lost one of our hero’s – Dr. Maya Angelou.
Maya Angelou, real name [Marguerite Ann Johnson] passed away on Wednesday [May 28th] at her home in Winstom-Salem, North Carolina. Maya was 86 years old. According to the reports,
” Maya has been suffering from heart problems and has been “frail” in recent months. “
Maya wore many hats. She was a poet, novelist, singer dancer, actress, professor, dancer and civil rights activist. Maya epitomizes everything that ‘Philanthropy’ represents. Maya was born in 1928; a time before the civil rights moments and like many, she instantly recognized the divide of prejudice in our world.
The separation of gender roles, sexism, classism, and racism was very prevalent. Maya was passionate about ‘equality’ for ALL ‘humanity’ and she always spoke words of enlightenment even in a time where hope in America was lost for many African Americans.
Like her former predecessors, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Maya used her words and poetry to speak about the global injustices that plaques our nation but Maya did it with Grace, Class, and Integrity.
I must say that when I first heard the news I was SHOCKED. Now, I believe that Maya has lived an extraordinary life impacting the world, and although she’s crossed over peacefully in her sleep, it really struck me to my core that someone who was so INFLUENTIAL, INSPIRING, and ENDEARINGtowards others [for decades] had passed.
We often her the cliche “You Don’t Know What You Have Until It’s Gone” and its true. When I reflect on many of our fallen hero’s who have come and gone, I also take notice that there are not many HERO’s left.
In 2010, President Barack Obama, honored Maya with the recipient of the ‘Presidential Medal Of Freedom Award‘. It is the country’s highest civilian honor.
When word spread of Maya’s passing, Obama said:
” Like so many others, Michelle and I will always cherish the time we were privileged to spend with Maya. With a kind word and a strong embrace, she had the ability to remind us that we are ALL God’s children, and we all have something to offer.
And while, Maya’s day may be done, we take comfort in knowing that her song will continue, flung up to heaven, and we celebrate the dawn that Maya Angelou helped bring. “
Maya recited her famous poem “On The Pulse Of Morning” at Bill Clinton’s 1993 Inauguration ceremony.
Bill Clinton had this to say:
” America has lost a national treasure; and Hillary and I, a beloved friend.
The poems and stories she wrote and read to us in her commanding voice were gifts of wisdom and wit, courage and grace. “
Maya spoke six languages and worked as a newspaper editor in Egypt and Ghana. It was there she had written her international best seller book “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings”; which was the first series of her autobiographical books.
Maya gave the public an inside look on her life before the fame. Maya exposed her truth while shedding light on the negative impact of ‘STEREOTYPES’ even those that lied in the ‘black culture’. In the book, Maya touched on the brutality of the Jim Crow South era, being raped by her mother’s boyfriend, abandoned by her parents, becoming homeless, and becoming a teenage mother.
But Maya turned her life around. She waited tables to support her son but shortly thereafter, Maya removed all guilt and shame. By the mid 19-50’s Maya went on to tour Europe in the opera -production “Porgy and Bess”.
In 1958 she became part of the Harlem Writer’s Guild in New York, and also starred in an off-Broadway production play as a ‘QUEEN ‘in the the show entitled ‘ The Blacks ‘ which was produced by French Dramatist Jean Genet.
The self-taught professor has never went to college but she has earned more than 30 honorary degrees and taught American studies for years at Wake Forest University in Winstom -Salem.
We lost one the greats, but her memory and contribution to this world LIVES ON.
May you have AMAZING PEACE Maya.