Maya Angelou, a phenomenal woman of color, has inspired a lot of different lives. She is best known as a poet and for her six moving memoirs, including the magnificent “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, published in 1969. She earned a Grammy in February for the recorded reading of A Song Flung Up to Heaven, her most recent memoir. Her work has won her over 30 honorary degrees, as well as National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize nominations. She became only the second poet in the United States when she composed “On the Pulse of Morning” for President Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993. S. Robert Frost was the first poet to be asked to write an inauguration poem for John F. Kennedy (Rossin, 2). The legacy of a great writer isn’t only how much work they leave behind; it’s also how that work inspires others. Maya Angelou was a poet from the United States who lived around the turn of the century. Angelou grew up enduring persecution not only as a woman but also as an African American during this historical period. Racism, sexism, and discrimination had no effect on her desire to pursue a career as a writer. Maya Angelou’s work is still relevant nearly 70 years later, reminding us that societal inequalities are only as real as we allow them to be (Rossin, 5).