Biden inauguration poet Amanda Gorman follows in footsteps of Maya Angelou

Vice President Harris wasn’t the only Black woman to break ground on Inauguration Day.

Wordsmith Amanda Gorman became the youngest inaugural poet in American history when she recited her work “The Hill We Climb” during Wednesday’s scaled-down inauguration at the Capitol.

Like the new president, Joe Biden, the 22-year-old Gorman touched on the theme of unity, challenging the nation to heal and come together after the deadly domestic assault on the Capitol building Jan. 6.

Gorman had said she struggled to write the poem in the weeks after Biden’s team asked her to participate. But she said the assault on the nation’s seat of democracy gave her the push she needed to get her past her writer’s block.

“We will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one,” Gorman wrote. “There is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.”

Poet Amanda Gorman takes a bow as President Biden applauds after she recited her inaugural poem during his inauguration at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20. (JONATHAN ERNST/)

By reciting the poem, Gorman joined the ranks of inaugural poets including Robert Frost, Miller Williams, Richard Blanco and Elizabeth Alexander.

She also shared the distinction with another Black poet, Maya Angelou, whose “On the Pulse of Morning” stirred the crowd at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993.

Ahead of the event, media mogul and Angelou friend Oprah Winfrey gave Gorman a pair of earrings and a caged bird ring, a reference to the late Angelou’s signature work, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”

President Bill Clinton reaches out to hug poet Maya Angelou after she delivered the inaugural poem during his inauguration ceremony in 1993. (MARK LENNIHAN / AP/)

Winfrey had also given Angelou gifts, a blue Chanel coat and a pair of gloves, to wear at her inauguration appearance.

“I have never been prouder to see a woman rise,” Winfrey wrote on her Instagram account. “Maya Angelou is cheering — and so am I.”

In 2017, Gorman became the first National Youth poet laureate. The Harvard graduate plans to release a children’s book of poems later this year.

Moments after her performance, Gorman gained more than 200,000 followers on Twitter.

“I wanted it to be a message of hope and unity,” Gorman told CBS News before her inauguration appearance. “And I think that Wednesday for me really just underscored how much that was needed. But to not turn a blind eye to the cracks that really need to be filled.”

Like Biden, Gorman, who was born in Los Angeles, had to overcome a stuttering impediment on her way to becoming a national figure. She also said that she has a long-term goal of running for president.