Pictures from Maya Angelou's Memorial Service Today (Photos)

 

Family, friends and famous admirers led by former US president Bill Clinton, First lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey gathered today in a chapel at Wake Forest University for the memorial service in honour of late Maya Angelou, one of the 20th century's most famous black writers.

Angelou died May 28 at age 86 after a remarkable life with important roles in civil rights and the arts. Born into poverty and segregation, Angelou rose to become an accomplished actress, singer, dancer
and writer.

Mourners at the venue

Although she never graduated from college, she taught for more than 30 years at Wake Forest, a private North Carolina university, where she was regularly addressed as Dr. Angelou out of respect for all the honorary degrees she received. She was born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis and raised in Stamps, Arkansas, and San Francisco. Her life included writing poetry by age 9, giving birth as a single mother by 17, and becoming San Francisco's first black streetcar conductor. She also once danced at a strip joint and chose not to speak for five years after she was raped by her mother's boyfriend as a child.

Bill Clinton speaking at Maya Angelou's memorial service.

Bill Clinton said of her at the private memorial service:

"We could just all be up here talking about how Maya Angelou represented a big piece of American history, And triumphed over adversity. And proved how dumb racism is. She was without a voice for five years and then she developed the greatest voice on the planet. 

God loaned her His voice. She had the voice of God. And he decided he wanted it back for a while."

May her soul continue to rest in peace.