I read her first 6 books that make up her autobiography, and they were absolutely amazing. It starts with her as a child growing up in southern USA before the civil rights movement, then moved to her as a single parent struggling to make ends meet, then her career as a singer and performer to eventually her relocation to Africa then work in the civil rights movement alongside Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.
Far from being a "I did this than that" type of autobiography, each chapter seems framed over a certain event of theme - e.g. her relationship with her mother as a child explored in a few telling memories, pages of her thoughts, etc. It is chronological, and it's not a book you read for the plot as the back covers tells you what period of her life this covers (so no, I'm not revealing spoilers in this post!) but it was extremely life-affirming for me. I most associated with the (I think) 2nd book - Gather Together in my Name, as in that book she's my age (20s) and despite writing all her books later in life, each book is written in the style of the age she's in. She is brutally honest, particularly about the naiivity of that age.
She was an amazing woman and I was sad to hear of her passing.