Maya Angelou receives Presidential Medal of Freedom from US President Barack Obama in 2011. Photo: CFP

First lady Michelle Obama remembered poet, author and civil rights champion Maya Angelou on Saturday as a dominant cultural force who taught black women and people of all races to celebrate their own worth and beauty.

Obama credited the writer's works, including her pioneering 1969 autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, with helping carry a young black girl from Chicago's South Side to the White House.

"She celebrated black women's beauty like no one ever had before," Obama said to more than 2,000 people at Angelou's private memorial service in North Carolina.

Former President Bill Clinton, media magnate Oprah Winfrey and actress Cicely Tyson also honored Angelou during the service at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, where she lived and taught for three decades.

Angelou was 86 when she died at her home on May 28 after years of failing health. Her only child, son Guy B. Johnson, said she never lost her mental acuity.

The tribute to her was celebratory and solemn. Winfrey and Tyson each wept over the loss of their "rock," while performances by singers Lee Ann Womack, BeBe Winans and Alyson Williams brought the audience to their feet.

Speakers recalled the spirit that allowed Angelou to overcome rape and racism during her childhood in the segregated South.

Angelou wrote more than 30 books of fiction, poetry and memoirs, as well as being a Tony-nominated stage actress, Grammy Award winner for three spoken-word albums, civil rights activist, streetcar conductor, singer, dancer, movie director and playwright.