Maya Angelou



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Maya Angelou has put her talents to use as a novelist, poet, singer, dancer, actress, editor, and civil rights activist. Her autobiographical novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings received critical acclaim for its depiction of her upbringing in a rural community. The book, published in 1970, returned to the best-seller lists in 1993 after Angelou, shown here, read her poem “On the Pulse of Morning” at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration in January 1993.

REUTERS/THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE/Courtesy of Gordon Skene Sound Collection

Appears in these articles:

American Literature: Prose; Angelou, Maya; African Americans

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