I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Magill’s Choice: American Ethnic Writers)
At a glance:
- Author: Maya Angelou
- First Published: 1970
- 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: St. Louis, MO, Los Angeles, CA, San Francisco, CA, Stamps, AR
The Work
Maya Angelou begins her autobiographical I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings with reflections about growing up black and female during the Great Depression in the small, segregated town of Stamps, Arkansas.
Following their parents’ divorce, Angelou, then three years old, moved to Stamps with her brother Bailey to live with their paternal grandmother and uncle Willie. Their home was the general store, which served as the secular center of the African American community in Stamps. Angelou’s memories of this store include weary farmworkers, the euphoria of...
[The entire page is 1338 words long]
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