President Obama Releases Statement, Honoring Maya Angelou: Her Song Will Continue

abuse actually drove her to stop speaking – but the voice she found helped generations of Americans find their rainbow amidst the clouds, and inspired the rest of us to be our best selves.  In fact, she inspired my own mother to name my sister Maya.

Oprah Winfrey and Cicely Tyson attend Maya Angelou’s 86th birthday weekend, as her portrait was unveiled at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in DC (April 2014).

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Like so many others, Michelle and I will always cherish the time we were privileged to spend with Maya. With a kind word and a strong embrace, she had the ability to remind us that we are all God’s children; that we all have something to offer. And while Maya’s day may be done, we take comfort in knowing that her song will continue, ‘flung up to heaven’ – and we celebrate the dawn that Maya Angelou helped bring.

As previously reported, Angelou died Wednesday at the age of 86 in her North Carolina home. [Associated Press]