Maya Angelou, Poet, Storyteller of Black America, Dies at 86

Maya Angelou, the poet and professor whose bestselling memoirs of growing up black and female made her a beloved American storyteller, with a melodious voice and seemingly boundless optimism in the face of hardship, has died. She was 86.

She died today at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, according to her literary agent, Helen Brann.