With a multi-hyphenate career as a writer, author, activist, and teacher, Dr. Maya Angelou used her unique writing style to connect with people through books, poems, songs and film. After joining the Harlem Writers Guild in the 1950s, Dr. Angelou took on the challenge of writing her prolific autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, published in 1970. Nominated for a National Book Award, the memoir was a gripping account of Dr. Angelou's early life in the segregated South and how she rose above racism, childhood trauma and adversity to find her voice as a woman and a writer. In 1960, Dr. Angelou headed the New York office of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, one of the principal fundraising organizations used by Dr. Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. Angelou went on to further cement her place in history, becoming the first African American and female inaugural poet to speak at a U.S. Presidential Inauguration in 1993. In addition to over fifty honorary doctorates, numerous awards. and accolades, Dr. Angelou also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010, the highest honor for a U.S. civilian. Throughout her extraordinary life, Dr. Maya Angelou endeared herself to readers around the world, and her indomitable spirit continues to serve as an inspiration.