On Feb. 16, 2017, at a special preview event for the new documentary American Masters — Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise at New York Public Library‘s The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Colin Johnson, grandson of the late Dr. Maya Angelou and Co-Founder and Principal of Caged Bird Legacy, LLC, presented Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and President Bill Clinton with a plaque of Dr. Maya Angelou’s inauguration poem, “On The Pulse of Morning,” that flew on the Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) on December 5, 2014.
Tony Marx (President and CEO, New York Public Library), Kevin Young (Director, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture), Neal Shapiro (President & CEO), Michael Kantor (Executive Producer, American Masters), and Rita Coburn Whack and Bob Hercules (Co-Directors and Co-Producers, American Masters — Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise) gave opening remarks. Elizabeth Alexander (Director, Creativity and Free Expression, Ford Foundation); Louis Gossett, Jr. (Actor and film interviewee), Johnson, and Coburn-Whack participated in a post-screening panel moderated by Young. The event ended with a reception, where guests enjoyed a Dr. Angelou pop-exhibit with items from the Schomburg’s collection and were able to record videos for American Masters‘ #InspiringWomanPBS online and social media campaign.President Clinton and Secretary Clinton are interviewed in the documentary on the literary icon.
The event made it to the Twitter Moments tab with tweets from the official Twitter accounts of American Masters and the Schomburg Center, as well as attendees.