Celebrated African-American author, poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou has died, the North Carolina university where she taught said Wednesday. She was 86.

“Today members of the Wake Forest University community mourn the loss of beloved poet, author, actress, civil rights activist and professor Dr. Maya Angelou,” it said in a statement.

Maya Angelou

Mayor Allen Joines of Winston-Salem, North Carolina told Fox TV affiliate WGHP in the southern state that Angelou was found dead on Wednesday morning by her caretaker.

Angelou is best known for her autobiographies that focused on her childhood and early adulthood, including “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” from 1969.

“Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God,” she wrote in the most recent post on her @DrMayaAngelou Twitter account on May 23.