Question #17 comes from the ICONIC writer Maya Angelou: An acclaimed American poet, storyteller, activist, and autobiographer, Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Angelou had a broad career as a singer, dancer, actress, composer, and Hollywood’s first female black director, but also became famous as a writer, editor, essayist, playwright, and poet. Angelou worked for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, and also served as a professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University. One of Angelou’s most famous work, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was written in 1969. She served on two presidential committees, in 1975 and in 1977. In 2000, Angelou was awarded the National Medal of Arts and in 2010, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S. Angelou was awarded over 50 honorary degrees before her death in 2014 at the age of 86.