Maya Angelou was celebrated at a memorial service on Saturday held at North Carolina's Wake Forest University, where she taught for 30 years.
The gathering, which remembered one of the most famous black writers on the 20th century, drew plenty of famous faces, including First Lady Michelle Obama, former president Bill Clinton and close friend Oprah Winfrey.
Michelle Obama was just one of the many guest that gave a speech (Dennis Van Tine/Future Image/WENN)
The service was private, attended by family and friends only, but Wake Forest streamed it live online to be watched by Angelou's millions of admirers.
Oprah gave a touching speech where she described the late poet as "spiritual queen godmother and ultimate teacher".
While Clinton spoke of Angelou's wisdom, telling the audience "she had enough experiences to last five lifetimes." In 1993 Clinton asked Angelou to read one of her poems at his first inauguration.
Mrs Obama praised Angelou for being a strong role model for her as a young woman, commenting that she "celebrated black women's beauty like no else had ever had the courage to do so before".
Going on to add: "How desperately black women needed that message. As a young woman, I desperately needed that message."
Maya Angelou died on May 28th, aged 86.
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