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"Maya Angelou's Life in Photos\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAmerican writer and poet Maya Angelou in New York City, April 1994. \n\nImage: Michael Brennan/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFirst Lady Michelle Obama and Maya Angelou on stage at BET Honors 2012 at the Warner Theatre on January 14, 2012 in Washington, DC.  \n\nImage: Paul Morigi/WireImage/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMaya Angelou and Gloria Steinem on their way to the March on Washington on August 27, 1983 in Washington, DC.  \n\nImage: James M. Thresher/The Washington Post/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, embracing the poet Maya Angelou after a reading at his inauguration ceremony on January 20, 1993.\n\nImage: Arnold Sachs/Consolidated News Pictures/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAmerican poet and author Maya Angelou gestures while speaking in a chair during an interview at her home on April 8th 1978.\n\nImage: Jack Sotomayor/New York Times Co/Getty Images)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr. Maya Angelou onstage at the Women 2 Women 2014 Inaugural Conference Luncheon at the Marriott Marquis Hotel on March 1, 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia. \n\nImage: Paras Griffin/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMaya Angelou around the year 1970.\n\nImage: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAmerican poet Maya Angelou reciting her poem 'On the Pulse of Morning' at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton in Washington DC on January 20, 1993.\n\nImage: Consolidated News Pictures/Hulton Archive/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMaya Angelou in her role as Nyo Boto in the series 'Roots'.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDemocratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, right, and poet Maya Angelou, left, acknowledge the crowd during a campaign stop at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., April 18, 2008. \n\nImage: Chuck Burton/Associated Press\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMaya Angelou, left, and Oprah Winfrey share laughs during a star-studded double-taping of \"Surprise Oprah! A Farewell Spectacular,\" on May 17, 2011, in Chicago. \n\nImage: Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSen. Edward M. Kennedy shown with three of this year's six women in the field of communications who received the thirteenth annual Matrix Award from the New York Chapter of Women in Communications, Inc. in New York on Monday, April 11, 1983. From left, the winners are: Jane Bryant Quinn, contributing editor, Newsweek and Woman's Day; Maya Angelou, author; and Mary McGrory, syndicated columnist, The Washington Post.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nU.S. first lady Betty Ford, third from right, poses with six other women who took part in the taping of the television special presentation of Ladies' Home Journal \"Woman of the Year 1976\" in New York City, April 8, 1976.  From left are, Betty Furness, Bettye Caldwell, Maya Angelou, singer Kate Smith, Ford, Dr. Annie D. Wauneka and Micki King.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAuthor Maya Angelou admires a blow-up a of a Ghana postage stamp in her honor during a ceremony in Washington Thursday Nov. 13,1997. \n\nImage: Patsy Lynch/Associated Press\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCelebrated American author and poet Maya Angelou died on Wednesday at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, her family said in a statement. She was 86.\nHer cause of death was not immediately known. Citing \"health reasons\" less than a week ago, Angelou backed out of the 2014 MLB Beacon Awards luncheon, where she was to be honored for her part in the civil rights movement. Angelou was also hospitalized last month.\nSee also: 32 Tweets of Wisdom From Maya Angelou\nHer last tweet was on May 23: \n\nListen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God.\n\u2014 Maya Angelou (@DrMayaAngelou) May 23, 2014\n\nAngelou's family released a statement on Facebook on Wednesday morning:\n\nPost by Maya Angelou.\nAngelou was the author of 30 books, including her most popular novel, \"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.\" She was also credited with a list of plays and movies, and was Hollywood's first female African-American director. She was one of the most honored writers of her generation. Some of her biggest awards included the Presidential Medal of Arts in 2000, the Lincoln Medal in 2008 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010.\nSee also: 10 Maya Angelou Quotes That Will Lift You Up\nBorn in St. Louis on April 4, 1928, she moved to San Francisco to study dance, but she dropped out of school at age 14 and become the city's youngest African-American cable car conductor. She briefly lived in Ghana, where she met Malcolm X and jumpstarted her involvement in the civil rights movement, eventually working alongside Martin Luther King Jr. She went on to serve on two presidential committees. \nAngelou famously recited her poem \"On the Pulse of Morning\" at President Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993. \n\nAmong her most famous works is her poem \"Phenomenal Woman,\" which she reads in the video below from 2013:\n\nIn an interview with TIME last year, Angelou answered 10 questions, ranging from her unusual relationship with her mother to her love of guns. Her answers truly reveal the candid personality for which she was famous.\n\nAngelou served as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University, where a campus memorial service will be held. The school released a statement on Wednesday morning, calling Angelou a \"national treasure.\" \n\"[Her] life and teachings inspired millions around the world, including countless students, faculty, and staff at Wake Forest [...] Our thoughts and prayers are with Dr. Angelou\u2019s family and friends during this difficult time.\"\nPresident Obama released a statement on Wednesday after Angelou's passing:\n\nWhen her friend Nelson Mandela passed away last year, Maya Angelou wrote that \u201CNo sun outlasts its sunset, but will rise again, and bring the dawn.\u201D  Today, Michelle and I join millions around the world in remembering one of the brightest lights of our time \u2013 a brilliant writer, a fierce friend, and a truly phenomenal woman.  Over the course of her remarkable life, Maya was many things \u2013 an author, poet, civil rights activist, playwright, actress, director, composer, singer and dancer.  But above all, she was a storyteller \u2013 and her greatest stories were true.  A childhood of suffering and abuse actually drove her to stop speaking \u2013 but the voice she found helped generations of Americans find their rainbow amidst the clouds, and inspired the rest of us to be our best selves.  In fact, she inspired my own mother to name my sister Maya. \nSee also: 15 Other Jobs Maya Angelou Once Held\nLike so many others, Michelle and I will always cherish the time we were privileged to spend with Maya.  With a kind word and a strong embrace, she had the ability to remind us that we are all God\u2019s children; that we all have something to offer.  And while Maya\u2019s day may be done, we take comfort in knowing that her song will continue, \u201Cflung up to heaven\u201D \u2013 and we celebrate the dawn that Maya Angelou helped bring.\n\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.\n      window._msla=window.loadScriptAsync||function(src,id){if(document.getElementById(id))return;var js=document.createElement('script');js.id=id;js.src=src;document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0].parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);};\n_msla(\"//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#appId=116628718381794&amp;xfbml=1&amp;status=1&amp;cookie=1\",\"facebook_jssdk\");_msla(\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\",\"twitter_jssdk\");"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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