In the Sixties, at the request of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Angelou became the northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She was also appointed by President Gerald Ford to the Bicentennial Commission, and by President Jimmy Carter to the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year.

In the film industry, especially through her work in script writing and directing, Angelou has been a groundbreaker for black women. Her screenplay, "Georgia, Georgia" was the first original script by a black woman to be produced. As a writer/producer for 20th Century Fox TV, Angelou's film, "Sister, Sister" became the company's first full-length effort. She has worked on numerous musical scores for films, both her own and others, and most recently played a role in Universal Pictures' "How to Make an American Quilt."

Angelou's accomplishments in the television industry are just as significant. She has made hundreds of appearances on both network and local television talk shows, including a one-hour interview with Bill Moyers on the PBS special, "Facing Evil." She has appeared on such programs as "Sesame Street" and "Touched by an Angel" and her renowned autobiographical account of her youth, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," was a special for CBS in 1979.

Angelou received an Emmy nomination for her supporting role in the 1977 production of "Roots," and the coveted Golden Eagle Award for her PBS special "Afro-American in the Arts." Angelou's awards and honors are unlimited in virtually every field. To mention a few:

She received the Chubb Fellowship Award from Yale University in 1970; a National Book Award nomination in 1970 for "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"; a Pulitzer Prize nomination in 1972 for "Just Give Me A Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die"; and a Tony Award nomination in 1973 for her performance in "Look Away."

Angelou has received two awards from Ladies Home Journal: Woman of the Year in Communications (1976), and the Top 100 Most Influential Women (1983). She is a recipient of the Matrix Award (1983), and has been awarded over 30 honorary Doctorate degrees from schools nationwide. In 1995, she wrote and presented a poem to honor the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, and in 1996, was named UNICEF's National Ambassador.