A woman of passion, compassion, and unmistakable style, poet Maya Angelou (1928–2014) was born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis and raised in rural Arkansas. Growing up poor during the Depression, she transformed hardship into luminous writing that carried the full weight of her experience—its pain, resilience, courage, and joy.

“Look for the beauty in things,” she encouraged. Angelou’s words, always grounded in hope and love, invited readers to lift their gaze. Her landmark autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1970) revealed her extraordinary early life. “Life loves the liver of it,” she celebrated. “Don’t bring negatives to my door.”

Fluent in French, Spanish, Italian, and West African Fanti, she became a guiding presence for Oprah Winfrey, Fiona Apple, and many others. Angelou’s voice—bold, tender, and unmistakably her own—captured emotions that urged positive change. “When it looked like the sun wasn’t going to shine anymore,” she wrote, “God put a rainbow in the clouds.”

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated,” she taught. “It may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” Her wisdom remains a steady reminder: the human spirit is far stronger than it knows.