Maya Angelou Portrait

On April 5th, 2014, Maya Angelou’s Portrait by Atlanta-based artist Ross Rossin was unveiled during the event at the McEvoy Auditorium in the Donald W. Reynolds Center. In the unveiling was her good friend and protege Oprah Winfrey and special guests included actress Cicely Tyson, activist Julian Bond, and former ambassador Andrew Young.

In her speech, Angelou discussed the works and humanity of Martin Luther King, Jr. at length; King, who was killed on Angelou’s fortieth birthday, was a great friend of the author and a colleague in the fight for civil rights. She noted “people can only do what they know to do. Reverend King did what he knew to do. He was compassionate; he was kind.”

Along with her many accolades as a writer she also has been nominated for a Tony, Emmy, and in 2011 President Barack Obama awarded her with the Presidential Medal of freedom. One of her most well known honors, was when she became the first poet since Robert Frost to read at the presidential inauguration. Directly after Bill Clinton took his oath, she read “On the Pulse of the Morning” a work she wrote for the occasion.