Comment on Maya Angelou, writer of many talents, dies at 86

NEW YORK (AP) — Maya Angelou was a woman of many identities — poet foremost among them — but those who knew her well made sure to address her as Dr. Angelou, out of respect for all the honorary degrees she received. Titles mattered to Angelou, who never graduated from college, as they would to anybody who grew up with nothing, achieved everything and were determined never to give it back. A childhood victim of rape, she broke through silence and shame to tell her tale in one of the most widely read memoirs of the 20th century. Tall and regal, with a deep, majestic voice, she was unforgettable whether encountered in person, through sound or the printed word. After renaming herself Maya Angelou for the stage ("Maya" was a childhood nickname, "Angelou" a variation of her husband's name), she toured in "Porgy and Bess" and Jean Genet's "The Blacks" and danced with Alvin Ailey. Three years later, she was helping King organize the Poor People's March in Memphis, Tennessee, where the civil rights leader was slain on Angelou's 40th birthday. Angelou was little known outside the theatrical community until "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," which might not have happened if writer James Baldwin hadn't persuaded Angelou, still grieving over King's death, to attend a party at the home of Jules Feiffer, a cartoonist and writer. Feiffer was so taken by Angelou that he mentioned her to Random House editor Bob Loomis, who persuaded her to write a book by daring her into it, saying that it was "nearly impossible to write autobiography as literature." [...] Angelou's passages about her rape and teen pregnancy have made the book a perennial on the American Library Association's list of works that draw complaints from parents and educators. Angelou appeared on several TV programs, notably the groundbreaking 1977 miniseries "Roots." In 2002, Angelou communicated in an unexpected way when she launched a line of greeting cards with industry giant Hallmark. [...] she went to Loomis, her editor at Random House, who was concerned the project would "trivialize" Angelou., who was called "the people's poet." Angelou hosted a weekly satellite radio show for XM's "Oprah & Friends" channel. Active on the lecture circuit, she gave commencement speeches and addressed academic and corporate events across the country.