Few poets ever rise to the kind of prominence enjoyed by Maya Angelou.  But of course, she was much more than a poet -- essayist, memoirist, and civil rights activist.  And not a bad singer, as you'll hear in a few minutes.

She worked with both Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. 

In 1993, Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at the first inauguration of President Bill Clinton.  I met her a few months later.