Richardson says:
“Maya Angelou was a genius, a Renaissance woman, and one of the world's most inspiring people. When she served as President Bill Clinton's inaugural poet in 1993, I was among the many people who were deeply inspired when Dr. Angelou made history by reading her epic poem, ‘On the Pulse of Morning,’ a moment that also recollected the reading of Robert Frost at President John F. Kennedy's inauguration.
“As a scholar of African American literature, I teach her work. Like many, I love her poetry. I am also inspired by her longstanding commitment to serial autobiography in African American letters, which was first established within the slave narrative as a genre in the late eighteenth century. She is most typically celebrated for her poetry, but her multi-volume autobiography is a masterpiece that should be read and studied comprehensively. I am inspired by her remarkable story. I am deeply saddened by her loss.”