Maya Angelou, Poet Laureate, Dead at 86

NEW YORK (AP) — Maya Angelou, a modern Renaissance woman who survived the harshest of childhoods to become a force on stage, screen, the printed page and the inaugural dais, has died. She was 86.

Her death was confirmed in a statement issued by Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she had served as a professor of American Studies since 1982.

Tall and regal, with a deep, majestic voice, Angelou defied all probability and category, becoming one of the first black women to enjoy mainstream success as an author and thriving in virtually every artistic medium. The young single mother who performed at strip clubs to earn a living later wrote and recited the most popular presidential inaugural poem in history. The childhood victim of rape wrote a million-selling memoir, befriended Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and performed on stages around the world.

An actress, singer and dancer in the 1950s and 1960s, she broke through as an author in 1970 with "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," which became standard (and occasionally censored) reading, and was the first of a multipart autobiography that continued through the decades. In 1993, she was a sensation reading her cautiously hopeful "On the Pulse of the Morning" at former President Bill Clinton's first inauguration. Her confident performance openly delighted Clinton and made the poem a best-seller, if not a critical favorite. For former President George W. Bush, she read another poem, "Amazing Peace," at the 2005 Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the White House.

http://news.yahoo.com/university-poet-author-maya-angelou-dies-86-134624581.html

 

Got to meet and speak with her a few times back when I was in seminary. She had an extremely gentle and humble, but confident spirit about her.

 

What does not worshiping someone have to do with some very unChristlike comments?

But based on your comments, wouldn't one be led to think you do the same?

How do you know this? In the quotes I mentioned she spoke of her past and who she wanted to be. Her poem " When I say I'm a Christian" seems to speak to someone who may have known Christ and sought his forgiveness as the poem says.

Again, having met and spent time with her, she came across as displaying much more of the love of Christ than many on this board do.

If she's in hell, it is indeed sad. But I've never heard or read of anything where she expressed Oprah-esque or Joel-esque smarmy type Christianity.

This is another quote from her:

Now you:

I agree. But do we know enough of Maya Angelou to say she's in hell? She seemed to live a life where she was trying to honor God and His commands. That doesn't mean she always got it right.

 

Well said and I know I haven't seen anything negative said about her before on this board.:applause: