Oct. 22, 2007
Maya Angelou's Enduring Optimism
Harry Smith: Poet Says Despite Setbacks, We Should Cherish How Far We’ve Come
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Play CBS Video Video Maya Angelou's Perspective Harry Smith speaks with award-winning poet Maya Angelou about the state of the world today and discusses a new book that introduces her poems to children called "Poetry For Young People."
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Video Noose Outrage At Columbia Columbia students protested after a noose was found on the door of a black professor. Several such incidents have occurred across the country after a similar case in Jena, La. Michelle Miller reports.
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Video Angelou On The Power Of Words The comments shock-jock Don Imus made about the Rutgers women's basketball team sparked off a national debate about the power of words. Poet Maya Angelou joins Russ Mitchell to discuss.
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Interactive Civil Rights In America A look back at the key people and events of the civil rights movement.
I first interviewed Maya Angelou about 25 years ago. From the moment we met, I was a goner. She says “good morning” with a voice that could warm the coldest heart.
She is still everything you hope she is, and then some. Wise, smart, funny…challenging you to keep up with her at almost 80!
I interviewed her today because for the first time, the “Poetry for Young People” series of books has chosen a living writer - Maya Angelou. Most of the poets they have picked in the past were white… male… European.
She laughed when she said, “I am none of the above!”
I reminded her of the clear bright day in Washington, D.C. when her poem written for Bill Clinton’s inauguration hushed the crowds along Pennsylvania Avenue.
Are those days of optimism gone, I wondered, while nooses are appearing in school yards? Dr. Angelou said we should remember the times when those nooses had men in them, and it rarely caused a stir.
Better now, she said, that even empty nooses make front-page headlines.
Harry's daily commentary can be heard on many CBS Radio News affiliates across the country.
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Ex-NBA ref Tim Donaghy 
