American Masters

Maya Angelou was the grandest of the dames. She was the grandest. There's nobody else like her. Maybe that's true of all of us, but she - she was spectacular. If I was a student of Maya Angelou, it was because I was able to spend time with her and know her personally. My kids, we spent some time at her home in North Carolina, but I remember so well dinners and afternoons and evenings there. If she thought that they were being impolite to their parents, you know, she would call them on it. "Madeline - that's no way to talk to your father." "Yes Dr. Angelou...godmother." They called her godmother. Yeah, she liked being called godmother. Her home was the only home I think I've ever been to where race didn't exist. It wasn't a Black person coming to dinner or a White person, it was a guest. It was very unusual. And maybe it's just me coming out of my generation that would think that. But the fact is, it wasn't racial. You know, she was a monument to herself and there was only one Maya Angelou. Anybody that hears this that saw her, let alone knew her, I would bet would agree with that. You might think when she articulated, the way she articulated, that it came from some adopted place, but she was a queen. She was royalty. She was it. And it came from deep within.