Examines the life and literary achievements of Maya Angelou. Offers critical essays by scholars on her writings, and discusses the influence her writings have had on American literature. Includes a chronology and a complete list of works.

On Maya Angelou ; Biographical sketch : Maya Angelou / Mildred R. Mickle -- Formalist criticism and the artistic merits of Maya Angelou;s poetry / Robert C. Evans -- Literature review of the secondary sources on Maya Angelou's life and work / Martin Kich -- Spirituals and blues enclosed : a comparative analysis of black folk forms in the poetry of Maya Angelou, Sterling Brown, and Langston Hughes / Mildred R. Mickle -- The censorship of Maya Angelou's work / Martin Kich -- Paradoxical phrasing in the later autobiographies of Maya Angelou / Robert C. Evans -- Humor in the autobiographical writings of Maya Angelou : Maya meets Mr. Julian / Jason Shifferd -- Maya Angelou and Zora Neale Hurston as authors of autobiographies / Sarah Fredericks -- Angelou on Angelou : a survey of opinions expressed in interviews and conversations before 1989 / Christina M. Garner -- Further conversations with Maya Angelou : a survey of interviews from 1990 to 2014 / Kelley Jeans -- Ethos, logos, and pathos in Maya Angelou's essays / Stephen Paul Bray -- The rust on the razor that threatens the throat : Maya Angelou's I know why the caged bird sings / Claudine Raynaud -- On the pulse of peace : Maya Angelou, a nation's poet / Tomeiko Ashford Carter -- The "Sea never dry" : the theme of Africa in select poetry by Maya Angelou / Mildred R. Mickle -- Gender and poetic ingenuity in the poems of Maya Angelou / Robert C. Evans -- Chronology of Maya Angelou's life -- Works by Maya Angelou.