| Poet, educator, historian,
actor, playwright, civil-rights activist, producer, director:
Maya Angelou is hailed as a Renaissance woman and considered
a national treasure. When she delivered her dedicatory poem
at the Presidential Inauguration in 1993, she became only the
second poet in U.S. history to have the honor of writing and
reciting original work at an Inauguration. She also recited
work at the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the United
Nations.
 Angelou
has authored 12 best-selling books. Nominated for best supporting
actress in 1977 for her role as Nyo Boto (Grandmother) in
the made-for-TV movie Roots, she began her acting career in
1954, playing Ruby in the European tour of Porgy and Bess.
She has written and produced a number of plays, documentaries,
and TV programs, including the 30 half-hour segments of Humanities
Through The Arts, and the miniseries Three Way Choice.
Angelou is fluent in English,
French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, and West African Fanti,
and the list of her accomplishments is varied and global:
modern dance teacher in Rome and Tel Aviv; coordinator for
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (by request of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.); associate editor of the Arab
Observer (Cairo, Egypt) and feature editor of African Review
(Accra, Ghana); assistant administrator and teacher at the
University of Ghana's School of Music and Drama; Institute
for the Study of Human Systems panelist (Zermatt, Switzerland).
She was appointed to the American
Revolution Bicentennial Council by President Gerald Ford,
and to the Presidential Commission for International Women's
Year by President Jimmy Carter. She is the recipient of scores
of honors and awards, including the National Medal of Arts
in 2000 and an honorary doctorate from Rollins.
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