Maya Angelou Quotes For more hottest and latest news, please subcribe Hot News 24/7 channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheHotnews247 (CNN) -- A literary voice revered globally for her poetic command and her commitment to civil rights has fallen silent. Maya Angelou died at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on Wednesday, said her literary agent, Helen Brann. The agent added that she has been "frail" and suffering from heart problems. The 86-year-old was a novelist, actress, professor, singer, dancer and activist. In 2010, President Barack Obama named her the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor. One of Angelou's most praised books was "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." The memoir bore witness to the brutality of a Jim Crow South, portraying racism in stark language. Readers learned of the life of Marguerite Ann Johnson (Angelou's birth name) up to the age of 16: how she was abandoned by her parents and raped by her mother's boyfriend. She was homeless and became a teen mother. Its publication was both daring and historic given the era of its debut in 1969. "All of the writers of my generation must honor the ground broken by Dr. Maya Angelou," author Tayari Jones posted on her Facebook page Wednesday. "She told a story that wasn't allowed to be told," Jones said. "Now, people tell all sorts of things in memoir, but when she told the truth, she challenged a taboo -- not for shock value, but to heal us all." Black American novelist Julian Mayfield is said to have described the autobiography as "a work of art which eludes description." "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" was an international bestseller and nominated for a National Book Award in 1970. In six other autobiographical books she subsequently penned, Angelou revealed myriad interests and occupations of her life. People of all ages and backgrounds took to social media to say what her life's work meant to them. Adrian Sean of Detroit posted a CNN iReport tribute, saying, "I cannot describe the feeling I had when I read 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' for the first time, and knew someone else in the world had been through extreme hardships just as I had. "She not only survived, but she thrived just by being herself," she said. "Maya Angelou was and still is a teacher, a mentor, and a friend to me. Her impact on my life will always have a special place in my heart." From a dropout to Dr. Angelou Angelou spent her early years studying dance and drama in San Francisco but dropped out of school at age 14. When she was 16, Angelou became San Francisco's first female streetcar driver. Angelou later returned to high school to get her diploma. She gave birth a few weeks after graduation. While the 17-year-old single mother waited tables to support her son, she developed a passion for music and dance, and toured Europe in the mid-1950s in the opera production "Porgy and Bess." In 1957, she recorded her first album, "Miss Calypso." In 1958, Angelou become a part of the Harlem Writers Guild in New York and played a queen in "The Blacks," an off-Broadway production by French dramatist Jean Genet. "I created myself," Angelou once said. "I have taught myself so much." Affectionately referred to as Dr. Angelou, 6-foot-tall professor never went to college. She has more than 30 honorary degrees and taught American studies for years at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem. "Maya Angelou has been a towering figure -- at Wake Forest and in American culture. She had a profound influence in civil rights and racial reconciliation," Wake Forest University President Nathan O. Hatch said Wednesday. "We will miss profoundly her lyrical voice and always keen insights." Angelou spoke at least six languages and worked as a newspaper editor in Egypt and Ghana. It was during that time that she wrote "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," the first in a series of autobiographical books. "I want to write so well that a person is 30 or 40 pages in a book of mine ... before she realizes she's reading," Angelou said. 'A long journey' In CNN's 2009 interview, Angelou spoke in the way that she came to be famous for, each sentence a crescendo of emotion, a call to everyone to act and to be better. "Our country needs us all right now to stand up and be counted. We need to try to be great citizens. We are necessary in this country, and we need to give something -- that is to say, go to a local hospital, go to the children's ward and offer to the nurse in charge an hour twice a month that you can give them reading children's stories or poetry," she said. "And go to an old folks' home and read the newspaper to somebody. Go to your church or your synagogue or your mosque, and say, 'I'd like to be of service. I have one hour twice a month.' "You'll be surprised at how much better you will feel," she said. "And good done anywhere is good done everywhere."

• published: 28 May 2014
• views: 2