“Maya Angelou, whose landmark book of 1969, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” — a lyrical, unsparing account of her childhood in the Jim Crow South — was among the first autobiographies by a 20th-century black woman to reach a wide general readership, died on Wednesday at her home in Winston-Salem, N.C. She was 86.

Her death was confirmed by her longtime literary agent, Helen Brann. The cause of death was not immediately known, but Ms. Brann said Ms. Angelou had been frail for some time and had heart problems.”* The Young Turks hosts Ana Kasparian and John Iadarola break it down.

*Read more here from Margalit Fox / NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/29/arts/maya-angelou-lyrical-witness-of-the-jim-crow-south-dies-at-86.html