The name of legendary poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou started to trend on Twitter Friday after an old clip resurfaced. The video sparked a debate about respect, how people were raised and how they should be addressed. Her name had nearly 12,000 mentions by the afternoon.
The interview was from around 1990. Angelou was asked a question by a teenage member of the audience about interracial relationships but before her question was answered, Angelou corrected the girl about the way she wanted to be addressed. The girl called her “Maya.”
“Thank you,” Angelou says first in the clip. “And first, I’m Ms. Angelou. I’m not Maya. I’m 62 years old. I’ve lived so long and tried so hard that a young woman like you, or any other, has no license to come up to me and call me by my first name.”
She continues: “That’s first. Also, because at the same time, I’m your mother, I’m your auntie, I’m your teacher, I’m your professor. See?”
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