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Dr. Maya Angelou: "Love Liberates"

Aired on 01/16/2011 | CC tv-14
Editor's note: We were deeply saddened to learn of Dr. Maya Angelou's passing. The following is from Dr. Angelou's January 2011 appearance on Oprah's Master Class.

At age 7, Dr. Maya Angelou stopped speaking after being sexually abused while living with her mother's family, a time she later chronicled in her book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Shortly after the incident, she was sent to live with her paternal grandmother. Despite being called an idiot by others because she wouldn't talk, young Maya was always told otherwise by her grandmother. Watch as Dr. Angelou reveals what her beloved "Mama" told her, how she used those words to travel the world as a teacher and why she says love like that truly liberates.

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