What author served as a major inspiration behind Glory Edim's initiative, Well-Read Black Girl?

Maya Angelou, besides being cited by several authors in this anthology as an admirable black woman artist, is a major inspiration behind Glory Edim's initiative, Well-Read Black Girl. Edim describes Angelou's work as "a powerful story of self-determination," which itself is a theme running throughout the book. Self-determination, whether of the kind achieved by the abused and marginalized Angelou, or that achieved by ordinary black women on a daily basis, is what Edim wants her book to inspire in others. Edim speaks of an inheritance of words, given to her by Angelous, which led to a fascination with the things black women can achieve, not only in literature, but also in life.