Maya Angelou - Yet to be United States

When Dr. Maya Angelou read her poem, "On the Pulse of Morning," written especially for President Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993, the 'best kept secret in literary circles' was thoughtfully revealed to the whole world. She is arguably the most influential woman of her race, but there is more to Maya Angelou than being an African American female. Born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis in 1928, she has lived many lives in one, escaped a torturous and …

…visionary who hopes that one day the United States will embrace all of its citizens and live up to its name. She realizes that words have to power to incite and inspire with a greater impact than a nuclear weapon. As she wrote in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, "Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with the shades of deeper meaning" (82).