Widely considered a literary treasure, Maya Angelou received dozens of honorary degrees and, in 2011, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honour possible for American civilians. (Canadian Press)
U.S. First lady Michelle Obama and media magnate Oprah Winfrey were among the speakers honouring poet, author and civil rights champion Maya Angelou at a private memorial service in North Carolina on Saturday.
Former President Bill Clinton was also scheduled to attend the tribute at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, where Angelou taught for three decades, the school said.
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Angelou wrote the poem On the Pulse of Morning and read it at Clinton's first presidential inauguration in 1993.
She was 86 when she died at her home on May 28.
"When I think about Maya Angelou, I think about the affirming power of her words," Michelle Obama told the memorial service.
"The first time I read [the poem] Phenomenal Woman, I saw that she celebrated black women's beauty like no one had ever dared before — our curves, our stride, our grace. Her words were clever and sassy, powerful, sexual and boastful," Obama said.
Angelou was best known for her 1969 autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, about growing up in the segregated South. That pioneering work helped give black women writers a literary voice and became a reading list staple in American classrooms.
The memoir was among a body of work including more than 30 books of fiction and poetry produced by Angelou during her prodigious career. She was also a Tony-nominated stage actress, Grammy Award winner for three spoken-word albums, civil rights activist, streetcar conductor, Calypso singer, dancer, movie director and playwright.
In 2011, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor, was bestowed upon her by President Barack Obama.
After her death, President Obama said he and the first lady cherished the time they had spent with Angelou, for whom the president said his sister was named.
Winfrey called Angelou her "mentor, mother/sister and friend."
Angelou served as a professor of American Studies at Wake Forest since 1982, and had planned to teach a course on race, culture and gender this fall, the university said.
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