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Norton Statement on Passing of Maya Angelou

May 28, 2014

WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) made the following statement on the passing of her friend Dr. Maya Angelou today.

"My friend Maya Angelou needed every one of her 86 years to live her rich life as a renaissance woman – writer, poet, actor, dancer, screenwriter, professor, civil rights activist, and on top of all that talent, Maya also was a cook extraordinaire. Maya came to the District often and touched the hearts of our residents, who named a charter school for her. She visited that school, too, the Maya Angelou Public Charter School, in Ward 7.

"Maya found her voice early in her own life, after being molested as a child, becoming mute for years and immersing herself in books. When she found her voice, it carried across the lines that typically divide people, using poetry and writing that spoke to presidents and poor people alike. Maya's life experience was so full that it fed much of her writing, and it took six autobiographies to tell it all. Prolific until the end, Maya lived to become a seer, the nation's wise woman, never to be forgotten."

Published: May 28, 2014