I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
by Maya Angelou
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- Magill's Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
- Masterplots II: African American Literature, Revised Edition
- Censorship (Ready Reference series)
- Identities & Issues in Literature
- Masterplots II: Nonfiction Series
- Masterplots II: Women's Literature Series
- Masterplots II: Juvenile & Young Adult Biography Series
- Masterplots, Fourth Edition
See Also
- Maya Angelou (Critical Survey of Poetry: American Poets)
- Maya Angelou (Cyclopedia of World Authors, Fourth Revised Edition)
- Maya Angelou (Dictionary of World Biography: The 20th Century)
- Maya Angelou (Identities & Issues in Literature)
- Maya Angelou (Critical Survey of Short Fiction, Second Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Maya Angelou
- First Published: 1970
- Type of Work: Autobiography
- Time of Work: 1931-1945
- Setting: Stamps, Arkansas; St. Louis, Missouri; San Francisco, California
- Genres: Nonfiction, Autobiography
- Subjects: African Americans, Maturation or coming of age, Family or family life, Memory, Adolescence, Murder or homicide, South or Southerners, 1940's, Prejudices or antipathies, Manners or customs, Social life, 1930's, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Violence, Small-town life, Youth
- Locales: United States, North America, St. Louis, Missouri, Los Angeles, California, San Francisco, California, Stamps, Arkansas
Form and Content
In this first of five volumes of autobiography, Maya Angelou tells the story of her life from age three, when her divorcing parents sent her and her brother to live with their maternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas, to age sixteen, when, reunited with her mother in San Francisco, she gave birth to her son. Thus her story begins with semi-orphanhood and ends with motherhood. Interpreting her quest for freedom and self-affirmation as representative of that of many African Americans and American women—especially black American women—she presents incidents...
(The entire page is 3481 words.)
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Popular Questions
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