Pupils at CedarBridge Academy will today stage a special tribute to US writer, poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou, who died yesterday aged 86.

The tribute to Dr Angelou, who died at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she had taught for many years at Wake Forest University, will feature a video outline of Dr Angelou’s life and interpretations of her work by pupils.

Dr Angelou visited Bermuda for a sell-out performance of her work and talk on her life in 1995.

A spokeswoman for the school said: “In true CedarBridge fashion, once teachers heard about the death of Maya Angelou, they quickly galvanised to organise a special assembly to honour this poet laureate.”

Under the direction of English teacher Kalene Sutherland, pupils Edina Ray and Ashanti Stovell will present two of Dr Angelou’s poems, In a Time and Impeccable Conception and both will also perform an original poem.

A dance selection from Shoa Bean and song selection from pupil Marissa Trott will be followed by a finale performance of one of Dr Angelou’s best-known works, Phenomenal Woman, by pupils Chenzira Eve, Skylah Furbert and Shanay Dill.

Dr Angelou was born in St Louis, Missouri, and struggled through difficult early years after she was raped as a child and became a single mother in her teens.

An actress and a singer as well as a writer, her first book, I Know Why the Caged Birds Sings, which focused on her own life, shot her to fame in 1969.

She also wrote the screenplay and score for the 1972 film Georgia, Georgia, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Dr Angelou went on to write more than 30 published works, including five more memoirs and several books of poetry.

She performed at the inauguration of Bill Clinton in 1993, becoming only the second poet to perform at a Presidential inauguration after Robert Frost read some of his work when John F. Kennedy became President in 1961.

Read tribute on page 16