By Mary Whitfill, editor-in-chief

Maya Angelou, author and poet, has passed away at age 86 after suffering from poor health, confirmed Winton-Salem, NC mayor Allen Joines on Wednesday morning. A celebrated educator, actress, filmmaker and civil rights activist, Angelou has received over 50 honorary degrees.

Angelou, most recently a professor at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC, cancelled a May 30 appearance due to health issues, where she was to be honored with the “Beacon of Life Award.”

Most renowned for her award-winning writing of “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” Angelou has been a staple of American education for decades. She has received three Grammy Awards, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Arts in 2000 and her 1993 reading of her poem “On the Pulse of the Morning,” composed for Bill Clinton’s inauguration, was broadcast around the world.

Angelou’s extensive publication history includes seven autobiographies, three books of essays and a number of poems, all of which garnered significant critical acclaim.

She is well known for her quote: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Photo courtesy York College ISLGP, Creative Commons.