Angelou

Yentob continued to front Imagine, making memorable portraits of writers like Maya Angelou, architect Frank Gehry and artist Rachel Whiteread.

Yentob profiled and interviewed a wide range of important cultural and creative figures over the years, including David Bowie, Charles Saatchi, Maya Angelou and Grayson Perry, for TV series such as Omnibus, Arena and Imagine.

During an interview with Oprah Winfrey, writer Maya Angelou famously advised, “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.”

I was shocked and upset to learn recently that Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” was, under orders of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, pulled from the shelves of Nimitz Library on the campus of the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

The freedom to engage with books like Richard Wright’s “Native Son,” Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” and Nathan McCall’s “Manchild in the Promised Land.” offered a connection to our personal stories and collective histories while augmenting our official instruction which emphasized the histories and accomplishments of white men.