Tavis Smiley recounts the story of his friendship with Maya Angelou

Tavis Smiley and Maya Angelou met in 1986, when he was 21 and she was 58. For the next 28 years, Angelou was a teacher and a maternal figure to Smiley, and they talked often of art, politics, history, music, religion, and race. In My Journey with Maya, Smiley beautifully recounts a friendship filled with conversation that began when he, a recent college graduate and a poor kid from a big family in the Midwest, accompanied the revered writer on a sojourn to Ghana.

Smiley stumbled into a relationship with her that shaped his future and affected the man he became. Like a mother to him, she was generous, challenging, and inspirational - as she was to so many. Here he shares his portrait of Angelou - a highly complex individual who left an indelible imprint on American culture.