[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 83 (Friday, May 30, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E888]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




TRIBUTE TO DR. MAYA ANGELOU, MENTOR, TEACHER, SOCIAL ACTIVIST, MOTHER, 
                         SISTER, WOMAN OF LIGHT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 30, 2014

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute and remember one 
of the most remarkable figures of the 20th Century and an example of a 
life well lived for those coming of age in the 21st Century.
  Dr. Maya Angelou died this morning at her home in Winston-Salem, 
North Carolina. She was 86 years old.
  I first met Dr. Maya Angelou when I was a student at Yale University.
  No matter how busy she was--and she was always in demand--Maya 
Angelou always had time to share with you; as a mentor, a teacher, a 
social activist, a mother, a sister, a woman of light.
  She had a knack of making you feel better about yourself and life's 
possibilities.
  I thank God for her voice, her survival and her spirit and for 
teaching little girls--with long hair, short hair, curly hair, afros or 
straight hair--the beauty of all people.
  Dr. Maya Angelou epitomized what it is to be a great American who 
came from a unique and different background.
  Dr. Maya Angelou was an American original, a phenomenal writer, woman 
of insight, eloquence, and artistry who gave voice to the rawness and 
loftiness of our history and our humanity.
  From the struggles of her youth, through her work in the civil rights 
movement, to her success as an author and her time as the Poet Laureate 
of the United States, Maya Angelou embodied personal, moral, and 
artistic courage.
  Dr. Maya Angelou reminded us of the beauty of diversity and the 
importance of the black experience. She wrote of the cry for freedom, 
the experience of womanhood.
  Her story is the story of America. In the early 1960s, Dr. Angelou 
moved to Cairo, Egypt, where she became the associate editor of a 
magazine, The Arab Observer.
  Dr. Maya Angelou went on to help Malcolm X establish the Organization 
of Afro-American Unity in 1964. Since 1981, she held the Reynolds 
Professorship of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-
Salem, North Carolina.
  Dr. Maya Angelou once said: ``I have created myself. I have taught 
myself so much.''
  Dr. Angelou defied simple labels. She was a walking list of careers 
and passions. In addition to authoring books, she was an actress, 
director, playwright, composer, singer and dancer.
  And if that was not enough she was the first female and first black 
streetcar conductor in San Francisco.
  In November 2013 Dr. Angelou stole the show at the National Book 
Awards in New York when she was presented an award for Outstanding 
Service to the American Literary Community.
  She was introduced that night by her friend, the famed author Toni 
Morrison, who said of Dr. Maya Angelou: ``Suffering energized and 
strengthened her, and her creative impulse struck like bolts of 
lightning.''
  Mr. Speaker, today we lost one of the ``great souls'' which Dr. 
Angelou often wrote about.
  I hope it is a comfort to her family that so many around the world 
mourn with them at this sad time. But through our sadness, we draw 
strength from the enduring power of her own words: ``Just like hopes 
springing high, still I'll rise.''
  On a personal note, who can imagine a child who silenced herself for 
five years because of a brutal experience in her young life?
  That silence could have ruined her life or been a rebirth of her 
life.
  It was a rebirth.
  Just like a butterfly she was reborn and throughout her life she gave 
us the gift of her genius.
  So instead of saying good-bye, I say, as Dr. Maya Angelou said on 
January 20, 1993, at the inauguration of President Clinton, in her 
remarkable poem, ``A Rock, A River, A Tree'':

     Here on the pulse of this new day
     You may have the grace to look up and out

     And into your sister's eyes, into
     Your brother's face, your country

     And say simply
     Very simply

     With hope
     Good morning.

  So long my friend. We will never forget you or all you did to make 
our world a better place.

                          ____________________