Maya Angelou was an influential American poet, memoirist, actress, and civil rights activist, born Marguerite Ann Johnson on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. She is best known for her groundbreaking 1969 autobiography, *I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings*, which made literary history as the first nonfiction bestseller by a Black woman and explores themes of racism and trauma from her childhood [3][4][5].

Angelou’s multifaceted career included writing poetry, acting, and directing, making her the first African American woman to have a screenplay produced with *Georgia, Georgia* (1972) [5][6]. She received numerous accolades, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010, and her poem *On the Pulse of Morning* was recited at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993 [2][4].

Who was Maya Angelou?

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