Elizabeth Alexander is the Thomas E. Donnelley Professor of African American Studies at Yale University. She wrote and delivered “Praise Song for the Day” at Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration. Her memoir, “The Light of the World,” was published in 2015. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Maya Angelou, Elizabeth Alexander, & Arnold Rampersad — W.E.B. Du Bois & the American Soul.” Find more at onbeing.org.