Historian Henry Louis Gates, Ambassador Andrew Young and other admirers share insights about Maya Angelou in a new Postal Service video.
“Maya had the capacity to turn the facts of African-American history into poetry. Very few people can do that,” Gates says during the six-minute video, which was shown at the recent dedication of the Angelou stamp.
Angelou, a beloved writer and performer who died last year, wrote “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” a 1969 memoir about her early years.
She also read one of her poems at President Clinton’s 1993 inauguration and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010.
Others interviewed in the video include poet Elizabeth Alexander, scholar Howard Dodson, U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), rapper Nas and artist Ross Rossin, whose painting of Angelou graces the stamp.
The stamp can be purchased online and at Post Offices nationwide.