Poet and activist Maya Angelou at the 1984 Westminster Town Hall Forum
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
A Westminster Town Hall Forum broadcast of poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou. She died in 2014, but her words speak to the times we’re in now.
She said, “the plague of racism is insidious, entering our minds as smoothly and quietly and invisibly as floating airborne microbes enter into our bodies to find lifelong purchase in our bloodstreams.”
“Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.”
Her most famous quote is probably, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Maya Angelou spoke at the Westminster Town Hall Forum, at Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis, on September 20, 1984. The moderator at the time was senior pastor Donald Meisel, who founded the Forum in 1980.
Support Local News
When breaking news happens, MPR News provides the context you need. Help us meet the significant demands of these newsgathering efforts.