Just eight years ago, Dr. Maya Angelou graced the PromaxBDA stage in New York City, serving as the creative keynote speaker.

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage you can’t practice all the other virtues consistently,” she told attendees.

On Wednesday, Angelou died at the age of 86.

A statement from her son, Guy Johnson, on her Web site reads:

“Dr. Maya Angelou passed quietly in her home before 8:00 a.m. EST. Her family is extremely grateful that her ascension was not belabored by a loss of acuity or comprehension. She lived a life as a teacher, activist, artist and human being. She was a warrior for equality, tolerance and peace. The family is extremely appreciative of the time we had with her and we know that she is looking down upon us with love.”

This Sunday, Angelou’s good friend, Oprah Winfrey, will honor her on OWN with six hours of programming starting at 5 p.m. ET/PT and running through 10 p.m. ET/PT. The programs will look back on several of Angelou’s appearances with Winfrey, including an episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” entitled, “Conversations with Dr. Maya Angelou,” and Angelou’s appearances on OWN’s Super Soul Sunday series.

“I’ve been blessed to have Maya Angelou as my mentor, mother/sister, and friend since my 20’s. 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,” said Winfrey in a statement.

“She won three Grammys, spoke six languages and was the second poet in history to recite a poem at a presidential inauguration. 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.”

Angelou’s re-telling of her early life, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” published in 1969, was the first autobiography by a black woman to reach a broad audience.

She went on to publish many other books, including five more memoirs and several volumes of poetry, and was working on another memoir when she died.

Angelou read her poem “On the Pulse of Morning” at Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993, becoming the first poet to read at a presidential swearing-in since Robert Frost read one of his poems at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961. She also attended Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.

Besides being an author and a poet, Angelou was a singer, songwriter and actress, having been nominated for a Tony in 1959 for her performance in “Look Away,” which closed after one night. She also appeared in the TV mini-series, “Roots,” and the feature film, “How to Make an American Quilt.”

Elizabeth Alexander, President Obama’s inaugural poet, remembered her in this way, asking “If you have a song to sing, who are you not to open your mouth and sing to the world?”

From Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise”

Out of the huts of history’s shame

I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

See a part of Dr. Angelou’s inspiring talk in the above video.

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