Poet, Author Maya Angelou Dies At 86

The poet, performer and political activist Maya Angelou has died at the age of 86.

Angelou was born in St. Louis in 1928. She grew up in a segregated society, which she worked to change during the civil rights era.

Angelou revealed the scars of her past in the first of a series of memoirs, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," published more than four decades ago.

NPR's Lynn Neary has this remembrance.