On what would have been Maya Angelou’s 95th birthday, Oprah Winfrey paid tribute to the iconic poet and civil rights activist.
“Maya would have been 95 today – and I would have thrown her a BIG party, as I have done every 5th year since she turned 60,” the media mogul wrote on Instagram, alongside a throwback photo of the two.
Oprah, who first met Maya Angelou as a young reporter in the 1970s, says she was a huge role model for her growing up.
“I grew up memorizing her poems and reading her insightful books,” the 69-year-old wrote.
View this post on Instagram
Oprah previously stated that when she first read Maya’s 1969 autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, she felt like she was “meeting myself in full.” My experience as a young black girl was validated for the first time.”
She finally met her heroine when she was in her late 70s and working as a young reporter. “She cooked me a meal and read me poetry by Paul Laurence Dunbar.”
Oprah says she “listened to her words of wisdom for years” after that, and they became firm friends.
According to Oprah, some of Maya’s most memorable quotes were: “When people tell you who they are, believe them the FIRST time”; “When you know better, you do better”; and “When you learn, teach.” “Give when you get.”
Oprah concluded her post by stating that the spirit of her late friend “abides in me.”
In an interview with Maya in 2010, Oprah referred to her as a “mentor-mother-sister-friend.”
According to Oprah, some of Maya’s most memorable quotes were: “When people tell you who they are, believe them the FIRST time”; “When you know better, you do better”; and “When you learn, teach.” “Give when you get.”
Oprah concluded her post by stating that the spirit of her late friend “abides in me.”
In an interview with Maya in 2010, Oprah referred to her as a “mentor-mother-sister-friend.”
Maya was a singer, dancer, actress, and the first black female director in Hollywood. She rose to prominence, however, through her writing and civil rights activism.
She published seven autobiographies (the first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, in 1969), three books of essays, and several books of poetry, and is credited with over 50 plays, movies, and TV shows. She also received dozens of honorary degrees and awards.
She worked for Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, and she served on two presidential campaign committees, one for Gerald Ford in 1975 and another for Jimmy Carter in 1977. In 2000, President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Arts.
President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom a decade later, in 2011.
