ReelUrbanNews.com has learned, Congresswoman Alma S. Adams (NC-12) today introduced H.R. 3735, legislation to name the post office located at 200 Town Run Lane in Winston-Salem, North Carolina after Dr. Maya Angelou. Winston-Salem was Dr. Angelou’s primary residence and final resting place. She called Winston-Salem home for more than 30 years.
Dr. Maya Angelou was a visionary who is a celebrated activist, author, poet and actress. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1928 and grew up in rural Arkansas. Dr. Angelou became the first non-fiction best-selling African-American female author for her 1969 memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. She was the first African-American woman to have a script filmed for the 1972 movie Georgia, Georgia – which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Dr. Angelou received many accolades for her work, including three Grammys for spoken word albums and two NAACP Image Awards. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Arts in 2000 and also received the National Medal of Arts during the same year. In 2010, President Barack Obama presented Dr. Angelou with the county’s highest civilian honor: the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Dr. Maya Angelou has written 36 books and received more than 50 honorary doctorate degrees. She was appointed a Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in 1982 – where she taught humanities courses for more than 30 years.
“Dr. Maya Angelou is an iconic figure who is one of our country’s greatest writers, inspirational thought leaders and an overall phenomenal woman,” said Congresswoman Alma Adams. “Naming the Winston-Salem Center City Post office after her is a way to honor her many lifelong achievements and the mark she left on the Winston-Salem community, our country and our world. Her legacy will continue to inspire for generations to come.”
“Renaming the Center City Post Office for Maya Angelou is a way to honor her work and recognize what she meant to Winston-Salem, the city she called home for more than 30 years,” said Congresswoman Virginia Foxx.
“Dr. Maya Angelou was a dancer, a singer, an actress, a director of film, a poet, and autobiographer, a social commentator, a teacher and an activist,” said Guy B. Johnson, son of Dr. Maya Angelou. “Yet if you asked her what her life mission was, she’d answer that she had to confront injustice wherever she found it and remind each of us that we are more alike than unalike. It was her belief that every one of us has the responsibility of being our brothers and sisters keepers. For if human beings are to survive the grave difficulties that range from ethnic hatred and religious conflict to the destruction of the environment, it can only be done if we unite together to develop coherent and effective remedies. The Angelou Johnson family remain extremely grateful for your efforts to bestow our matriarch such a great honor.”
Congresswoman Adams’ legislation would rename the Center City post office to that of the Maya Angelou Memorial Post Office. The legislation is cosponsored by every member of the North Carolina congressional delegation: Representatives G.K. Butterfield (NC-01), Renee Ellmers (NC-2), Walter B Jones (NC-3), David Price (NC-4), Virginia Foxx (NC-5), Mark Walker (NC-6), David Rouzer (NC-7), Richard Hudson (NC-8), Robert Pittenger (NC-9), Patrick T McHenry (NC-10), Mark Meadows (NC-11), George Holding (NC-13).
