The United States Postal Service has honored the late Maya Angelou by placing her image on a Forever Stamp. Professor Angelou, the Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University, died at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina last spring. She was 86 years old.
In 1969, Professor Angelou published the critically acclaimed I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Random House), a story about her growing up in the racially segregated South. She followed up this memoir with five additional autobiographical works. In 1993 she read her poem “On the Pulse of the Morning” at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton.
The new stamp showcases artist Ross Rossin’s 2013 portrait of Maya Angelou. The oil-on-canvas painting is part of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s collection.
