maya angelou
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Can We Be Oprah Book Club-Smart With a Fraction of the Books?
Oprah is the type of anomaly that is an eternal source of inspiration: black, female, plus-size, from humble origins, and a beloved household name and self-made billionaire (three times over, at last estimate). Few of us can even hope to meet Oprah, let alone aspire to reach Oprah levels of success. In fact, most of…
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Canada’s Ex-Poet Laureate Stole From Tupac and Maya Angelou in the Greatest Cultural Appropriation of All Time
Move over, Taylor Swift. Kendall and Kylie, have as many seats as you need. There’s a new front-runner for The Root’s second-annual Wypipo Awards, and even though the nominations have not yet been formally submitted, I have a feeling that Pierre DesRuisseaux might be 2017’s runaway winner. Pierre DesRuisseaux is a prolific poet and writer…
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On Maya Angelou’s Birthday, Black Girls Breathe Life Into Her Words
“If I had my druthers, I’d rather be born black, American, female and in the 20th century. And I was. What luck I have,” said Maya Angelou in 2010. With these words, Angelou spoke with the White House on the cusp of receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the highest civilian honor in the United States,…
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Maya Angelou’s Son and Grandson Explain Why a Documentary on Such a ‘Phenomenal Woman’ Is So Necessary Now
Some people’s lives are bigger than they are; that was certainly the case with Maya Angelou. This “phenomenal woman” packed in a lot of living even for someone blessed with a relatively long journey of 86 years. That’s what’s most clear in the first-ever documentary on her life, Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, airing…