Maya Angelou is famous for her poetry that encompasses themes of family, identity, and racism. Her critically acclaimed “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is an autobiography that accounts for the struggles she faced in life. It mentions her rape, period of mutism, stint as the first black streetcar conductor, and pregnancy. She has also written “Still I Rise” which talks about the determination and strength of black women against their oppressors. Her writing has garnered her many awards and honors. Angelou got the chance to read “On The Pulse of the Morning” at Clinton’s Inauguration. That opportunity made her the second poet to speak at a president’s inauguration. She has received the Langston Hughes Award, The BET Honors Award for Literary Arts, Presidential Medal of Freedom, the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Poetry, and many more throughout the years. Angelou’s writing has inspired people and told bold stories.

In addition to her radical writing Angelou was also engaged with civil rights, organizing and managing events and groups. She was the coordinator MLK’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Angelou, along with fellow actors Godfrey MacArthur Cambridge and Hugh Hurd, organized a revue for the conference called “Cabaret for Freedom” at the Village Gate jazz club. The show, which Angelou served as writer and co-producer, was seen as such a success that she was offered the position of director, for the conference, by the then current director Bayard Rustin. She has worked with notable figures such as MLK, Rustin, and Philip Randolph. She has also done work outside the U.S in Africa. Angelou became a journalist writing about African affairs, after following freedom fighter Vusumzi Make to Cairo. In Accra outside the American Embassy Angelou rallied calling for an end to segregation and apartheid. Maya Angelou was a visionary that dedicated her life to fighting for what is right and used her writing as a way to express her beliefs.