"Among the many reasons that I think we all so treasure Dr. Maya is that she was a truth teller,” says Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, and close friend of celebrated poet Maya Angelou, who died yesterday at the age of eighty-six. Angelou is the author of more than thirty books, including her influential memoir of the Jim Crow South, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. She received numerous awards throughout her lifetime, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was presented to her by President Obama in 2011. A rare figure whose work was both scholarly and accessible, Angelou was undeniably inspiring.
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