Maya Angelou's Final Act Of Love And Compassion Toward Her Mother

"I remembered her liberating me, and I said, 'I hope I'll be able to liberate her.'"

To many people, the late Maya Angelou felt like a wise, nurturing mother figure. Her thoughtful life lessons and oft-quoted advice continue to resonate with countless even after her death last summer. But who was the woman who raised her into the inspiring adult she eventually became?

Her name was Vivian Baxter, and she had a reputation for being as fierce as she was independent. Though Angelou says her mom was not well equipped to parent a young child, the literary icon has said that Vivian was "the greatest mother of a young adult." Angelou continued learning from her mother, even up until the moment of Vivian's death in 1991.

In the above clip from "Oprah's Master Class: Belief Special," Angelou recalls the call she received urging her to travel from North Carolina to her hometown of San Francisco due to her mother's rapidly declining health.

"The doctor said she had three weeks to live," Angelou said. "She had emphysema and lung cancer. I brought her to my home."

Vivian survived for another year and a half in North Carolina, her daughter said. Then, when it became clear to Angelou that her mother had reached the end, she took one Vivian's own pieces of wisdom and applied it in a gesture of loving compassion.

"I remembered her liberating me, and I said, 'I hope I'll be able to liberate her,'" Angelou said. "So, in her last days, I said, 'Now, I understand that some people need permission to go. You may have done what God put you here to do. You were a great worker. You must have been a great lover, because a lot of men -- and if I'm not wrong, maybe a couple of women -- risked their lives to love you. You were a piss-poor mother of small children, but you were a great, great mother of young adults. And if you need permission to go, I liberate you.'"

Angelou left her mother's side after speaking those words, but wasn't gone for long.

"Something said, 'Go back,'" Angelou said.

So she did. When Angelou returned to her mother, she learned that her mother had died a few moments earlier. "The nurse said, 'She's just gone,'" Angelou said.

The experience reinforced what Angelou had learned from Vivian about believing in the power of love.

"You see, love liberates. It doesn't bind," Angelou said. "Love says, I love you. I love you if you're in China, I love you if you're across town, I love you if you're in Harlem, I love you. I would like to be near you, I'd like to have your arms around me, I'd like to hear your voice in my ear. But that's not possible now. So, I love you. Go."

Profound moments of belief can happen in all types of circumstances. This weekend, Oprah Winfrey presents "Belief," a seven-night series that searches for the heart of what really matters by journeying to the far reaches of the world and places cameras have rarely been.

"Belief" premieres Sunday, Oct. 18, at 8 p.m. ET on OWN.

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Maya Angelou: Through The Years

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