angelou became a poet and writer after a series of jobs as a young adult, including fry cook, sex worker, nightclub dancer and performer, cast member of "porgy and bess", coordinator for the southern christian leadership conference, and journalist in egypt and ghana during the decolonization of africa. she was an actress, director, producer of plays, movies, and public television programs, and writer. in 1982, she earned the first lifetime reynolds professorship of american studies at wake forest university in winston-salem, north carolina. angelou was active in the civil rights movement and worked with martin luther king, jr. and malcolm x. beginning in the 1990s, angelou made around 80 appearances a year on the lecture circuit, something she continued into her eighties. in 1993, angelou recited her poem "on the pulse of morning" (1993) at bill clinton's inauguration, making her the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since robert frost at john f. kennedy's inauguration in 1961.