Maya Angelou: She did not remain mute

Words, voice, intellect, vision combine to give us Maya Angelou’s moving story

Maya Angelou [Marguerite Annie Johnson, 1928-1014] died peacefully this week at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S. Her Words, voice, intellect, vision combine to give us Maya Angelou’s moving story.

US President Barack Obama has led the tributes to Maya Angelou, describing the poet, author and activist as “one of the brightest lights of our time”. He hailed Angelou, who has died aged 86, as “a brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman”.

Mr Obama gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian award, in 2011. He said: “Over the course of her remarkable life, Maya was many things – an author, poet, civil rights activist, playwright, actress, director, composer, singer and dancer.

“But above all, she was a storyteller – and her greatest stories were true.

A very public figure

Maya Angelou became a very public figure. Her achievements defy simple enumeration or ranking. Maya speaks of it most eloquently in her six major autobiographical works, including I know why the caged bird sings.

The words influenced a political movement, and inspired a generation of Americans as she gave witness to the possibility of personal triumph over the most severe and cruel circumstances of her early life.

Her words resonate with emotional power and yet without a trace of sentimentality or self-pity. They are neither humble nor hindered by any intruding egoism:

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.

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.

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.

Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.

I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

Maya Angelou, RIP