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The United States Mint has started distributing quarters featuring the image of Maya Angelou , making the poet and activist the first (b)lack woman to appear on US currency. “Each time we redesign our currency, we have the chance to say something about our country, what we value and how we’ve progressed as a society,” US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. Angelou is depicted with outstretched arms on the quarter. Behind her are a bird in flight and a rising sun, images inspired by her poetry. […] The US mint is planning to issue 20 quarters over four years honoring...

A video of Maya Angelou checking a teenage girl for calling her by her first name went viral and sparked a Twitter debate Friday about names, age and respect like none other. In the video, which Newsweek reports is from the early 1990s, Angelou is sitting on stage taking questions from the audience. The host chooses a young girl who begins her question by addressing Angelou as "Maya." “Oh, thank you,” Angelou replies to the girl in the clip. "And first, I’m Ms. Angelou." "I’m not Maya, I’m 62 years old," Angelou continues. "I’ve lived so long and tried so...

Maya Angelou was known for her inspirational and thought-provoking quotes, so it's only fitting that a stamp commemorating her features one. A new postage stamp that was unveiled in a dedication ceremony Tuesday morning celebrating the late literary icon aimed to do just that. It features her image with the quote, "A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." Except that quote ... isn't Angelou's.

Michelle Obama has largely ignored unflattering critiques of her physical appearance, often tinged with racial overtones, that have been lobbed by people who apparently still have not accepted the fact that African Americans inhabit the White House. At a memorial service Saturday for poet Maya Angelou, who died last week at age 86, Obama offered revealing insights about how she and other black women sometimes define their beauty in the context of the larger society’s standards. The first time I read “Phenomenal Woman,” I was struck by how she celebrated black women’s beauty like no one had ever dared to...

Maya Angelou, an author more revered than read, passed away at 86 on Wednesday. She is survived by her seven autobiographies... “I’m not modest,” Angelou explained last year to the AP. “I have no modesty...” In this spirit, she insisted that others call her “Dr. Angelou” though she never obtained a college degree... The doctor without a doctorate became a teacher without students at Wake Forest. “She collects an annual salary well into the six figures, yet presently teaches no classes and has no campus office,” John Meroney, then a senior at the North Carolina school, wrote in The American...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Award-winning author, renowned poet and civil rights activist Dr. Maya Angelou has died. She was 86. Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines confirmed Angelou was found by her caretaker on Wednesday morning.

UNDEFINED NAN, NAN, NAN:NAN AM|Renowned author and poet Maya Angelou recalls the struggles Nelson Mandela faced during his life and explains why Mandela is one of the most admired men of his time.

Author, poet, and activist Maya Angelou was shaken by the verdict of the George Zimmerman trial, saying it shows “how far we have to go” as a country. “That one man, armed with a gun can actually profile a young man because he is black and end up shooting him dead…It is so painful,” Angelou said in an interview with TIME Monday.

"I was in my house in North Carolina. It was fall. I heard someone walking on the leaves. And somebody actually turned the knob. So I said, "Stand four feet back because I'm going to shoot now!" Boom! Boom! The police came by and said, "Ms. Angelou, the shots came from inside the house." I said, "Well, I don't know how that happened."

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog Poet Maya Angelou shoots gun at home intruder. Barack Obama thinks she should be in jail because of it. Checking both google and google news, I did not see this reported on by any of the mainstream media, other than Time magazine. No New York Times, Washington Post, or Associated Press articles. No CBS, NBC, or CNN coverage.No wonder why some on the political left hate Fox News, which did report it.For News reports:Poet Maya Angelou Blasts Gun at Home IntruderObama supporter and famous poet Maya Angelou was asked by Time Magazine if she had ever...

Poet and author Dr. Maya Angelou, a strong supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton during the Democratic primary campaign, is now speaking out for Barack Obama. Last Thursday, she introduced Michelle Obama at a Women for Obama rally in Greensboro, North Carolina. "Look where we've all come from," said Angelou. "Something wonderful is happening." Angelou described herself as a "serious" and "sincere" supporter of Clinton and said she meant for her "to go all the way." Angelou praised Clinton as an intelligent, hard-worker campaigner who had left "18 million scratches" on the glass ceiling.

Clinton works to sway black women Appearance with Angelou underscores key role of gender DAVID INGRAM WINSTON-SALEM -- (snip) On Friday, the New York senator held a forum at Wake Forest University with Maya Angelou, one of the nation's most prominent poets -- and also a black woman. "Hillary Clinton is a woman who takes responsibility for the time she takes up and the space she occupies," Angelou said, reading from a piece of prose she wrote in Clinton's honor. "She has been there, done that, seen that and has still risen," Angelou said. Black women who vote Democratic face...

CHICAGO — Barack Obama’s former pastor, who canceled several public events following an uproar over his incendiary comments, surprised a Chicago congregation by attending an event to celebrate poet Maya Angelou’s birthday. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright got a raucous standing ovation when he entered Saint Sabina church on the city’s South Side on Friday night, according to video from WBBM-TV. Members yelled “Hallelujah!” as Wright embraced the Rev. Michael Pfleger, Saint Sabina’s pastor. The smiling Wright accepted an invitation to give the benediction at the Roman Catholic church but did not address the furor over his past sermons. He also...

Carter brought up the government response to Katrina, saying, “We only have to recall the color of the faces of those in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi” to know that inequality exists. He also noted that the Kings once were “victims of secret government wiretapping” — echoing Bush’s domestic spying program.

Just when we are so very tired of the cold and the early darkness and the bleakness of winter, there is hope just around the corner. Beginning in March, there’ll be a series of talks at the Rosemont Theatre presented by Unique Lives & Experiences. According to its web site, Unique Lives & Experiences is the country’s foremost women’s lecture series. It "was developed in response to women’s requests for intellectual entertainment and provides them with a forum for meaningful dialogue and stimulating interaction." Meaningful dialogue. Stimulating interaction. Think there are enough red flags here? Obviously not for the sponsors...

HOWDY FOLKS - THIS IS THE OFFICIAL ARNOLD INAUGURATION DAY LIVE THREAD. PLEASE POST YOUR COMMENTS HERE BEGINNING AT 10:00 AM SHARP. THANKS

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - Poet and author Maya Angelou has ended a decade-long stalemate over a slavery monument by adding a single line to her quotation describing the brutal conditions aboard slave ships. The amended inscription for the monument, a bronze statue of a black family with broken chains at their feet, won unanimous approval from the Savannah City Council on Thursday. The wording was one of the final hurdles for black leaders who plan to unveil the monument July 27 on Savannah's cobblestone riverfront, where the first slaves came into Georgia. Though city officials approved the statue last year,...