Maya Angelou one of the most talented authors and poets of her generation, has passed away
Born into a segregated world in the town of Stamps, Arkansas, Maya Angelou led an extraordinary life. She worked as a waitress, academic, musician, actor, director, a poet and a writer, and became an icon, affectionately referred to as 'doctor'.
She never attended university, but the power of her prose and her incredible ability with words saw her awarded over thirty honorary doctorates in her time, as well as lecturing on American studies for years.
Her autobiographical book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is perhaps her best known and most read work, and in 2011 President Barack Obama awarded her the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour it is possible to receive. She spoke six languages, was active in the civil rights movement with Martin Luther Kihng Jr., whom she counted among her friends, and when she doled out her wisdom, the world would listen.
She passed away in her home Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Wednesday according to CNN, at the age of 86. The universal appeal of her work showed not only the greatness of her creativity, but the senselessness of hatred or prejudice in a world where we all must live together. "We can learn to see each other and see ourselves in each other, and recognize that human beings are more alike than we are unalike".
