Obama's mom named his sister after Maya Angelou

MARK WILSON/Getty Images

Obama's mom named his sister after Maya Angelou
(Image credit: MARK WILSON/Getty Images)

President Obama has released a statement on the death of Maya Angelou, in which he reveals that his mother named his sister after the poet and memoirist. Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. --Ryu Spaeth

When her friend Nelson Mandela passed away last year, Maya Angelou wrote that "No sun outlasts its sunset, but will rise again, and bring the dawn."

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Ryu Spaeth

Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.