N.Y. Public Library exhibit commemorates life of Maya Angelou

5/31/2014

NEW YORK — The New York Public Library is presenting an exhibition commemorating the life of Maya Angelou.

The monthlong exhibition opened Friday at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem.

The celebrated poet and author died Wednesday at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, at age 86. The library acquired her personal papers in 2010.

Among the exhibition highlights are her correspondence with James Baldwin and Malcolm X. Other items include a handwritten copy of her memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Also featured is the original typed copy of On the Pulse of Morning. She read the poem at President Bill Clinton’s 1993 inauguration.

The exhibition runs through June 30.