(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. Angelou had been
"frail" and suffering from heart problems, the
agent said.
Angelou's legacy is twofold. She leaves behind
a body of important artistic work that
influenced several generations. But the 86-
year-old was praised by those who knew her as
a good person, a woman who pushed for
justice and education and equality.
In her full life, she wrote staggeringly beautiful
poetry. She also wrote a cookbook and was
nominated for a Tony. She delivered a poem at
a presidential inauguration. In 2010, President
Barack Obama named her a recipient of the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's
highest civilian honor.
She was friends with Malcolm X and the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr. and inspired young
adults and world celebrities.
She sang calypso. She lived through
horrors.
Her lasting contribution to
literature, "I Know Why the Caged
Bird Sings," 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.
"If you want to know what it was like to live at
the bottom of the heap before, during and
after the American Depression, this exceptional
book will tell you," hailed British critic Paul
Bailey.
The book became a mainstay of student
reading lists, much to the chagrin of some
authorities. The book has reportedly been
banned numerous times.
Angelou's mastery of literature trumped those
who tried to keep her down. She knew that
storytelling always won in the end.
"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 once said.
Opinion: How Maya Angelou gave me life
On Wednesday, 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 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."
Angelou spoke at least six languages and
worked as a newspaper editor in Egypt and
Ghana.
Affectionately referred to as Dr. Angelou, the
writer never went to college. But 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."
The university published a tribute site which
features her last speaking engagement at Wake
Forest.
Angelou was a proud woman, which
occasionally made problems for her hosts and
students.
One observer, escorting her to a speech,
remembers greeting her casually, only to be
told to address her as "Ms. Angelou." Her
students at Wake Forest could be as blistering
as they were complimentary. "A fantastic
motivator and I hope to have more of her
classes in the future," wrote one anonymous
commenter on RateMyProfessors.com, while
another assessed her as a "wonderful writer,
but fame does not imply a right to insult or
demean others."
Angelou talked about her approach to teaching
on Oprah Winfrey's "Oprah's Master Class."
"I teach all the time, as you do and as all of
you do—whether we know it or not, whether
we take responsibility for it or not," she said.
"I hold nothing back because I want to see
that light go off. I like to see the children say,
'I never thought of that before.' And I think,
'I've got them!'"
Winfrey released a statement Wednesday
calling Angelou her mentor, "mother/sister"
and friend.
"She was there for me always, guiding me
through some of the most important years of
my life. The world knows her as a poet but at
the heart of her, she was a teacher. 'When you
learn, teach. When you get, give' is one of my
best lessons from her," Winfrey said.
"But what stands out to me most about Maya
Angelou is not what she has done or written or
spoken, it's how she lived her life. She moved
through the world with unshakeable calm,
confidence and a fierce grace. I loved her and
I know she loved me. I will profoundly miss
her. She will always be the rainbow in my
clouds."
