National icon Maya Angelou passed away this week at the age of 86. You might not immediately associate the legendary poet and author with California, but she spent quite a few years here. At 16, she was San Francisco's first African-American female cable car conductor. She sang and danced calypso in a nightclub called the Purple Onion. In her 30s, Angelou moved to Los Angeles, where she focused on acting and writing. We ask Californians young and old to read a favorite poem published in 1978: "Still I Rise."
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