Author Maya Angelou died at age 68. The 86-year-old novelist, actress, professor, singer, dancer and activist pass away 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, CNN reported.
According to NBC News, her death comes less than a week after she announced she would not attend the 2014 MLB Beacon Awards Luncheon, where she was to be honoured. She points to "health reasons." Last month, she also cancelled an event in Fayetteville, Arkansas, because she was recovering from an "unexpected ailment" that left her hospitalized.
"The mayor is very saddened to hear the loss of a woman of such renowned phenomenal status as Dr. Angelou. Our prayers are with her family, her staff and all the people she has worked with," Linda Jackson-Barnes, assistant to Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines, said.
The Associated Press stated that Marguerite Annie Johnson, Angelou's original name, was born on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, and was raised in Stamps, Arkansas, and San Francisco, after her parents sent her off to live with her grandmother in California when she was fresh with a white store clerk in Arkansas.
Reportedly, the famous poet got into writing after a childhood has been marked with sexual abuse. When she was 7, her mother's boyfriend raped her. He was beaten to death by a mob after she testified against him.
"My 7-and-a-half-year-old logic deduced that my voice had killed him, so I stopped speaking for almost six years," she said.
Angelou also counted Nelson Mandela and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., as friends, and served as a mentor to Oprah Winfrey when Winfrey was starting out as a local TV reporter, NBC News stated.
"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," Winfrey said in a statement Wednesday.
