I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I understand the importance of the first African-American president as a educator of history. However, I do not fully understand it from the perspective of an African-American. I did not grow up in an era of outright segregation and I did not grow up with stories from my elders of living in fear or regret or shame because of the color of my skin. However, Reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou gave me some sense of how far this country has come in regards to equality of races because, amongst many things, this book has a large current that shows the reader how it felt to be an African American and truly struggle with racism in the 1930s and 1940s.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is an autobiographic fiction of Maya Angelou's early to middle childhood. It is considered an autobiography because it is based off the author's life, but it is also considered fiction because Maya Angelou writes in such a poetic and lyrical manner. The book has many themes to it: identity, love, coming of age, family, religion, and racism. At the time of its publication, which was in 1969, it was considered a major breakthrough for African-American writers and female writers. People explained it as one of the first African-American feminist books. Intelligently, the author easily conveys a message to the reader by the 3rd page. Angelou writes, "If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat. it is an unnecessary insult." Angelou's writing is beautiful and utterly honest.

Angelou speaks about so many tormenting ideas. She's never comfortable in her own body or even in her own home as a youth. Part of this is due to living in a broken home. Angelou and her brother, Bailey Jr., live with their grandmother in the South, mother in the Midwest and West, and father in the West all during their childhood. It appears as if she has no solid root. However, the two constants in her life are her brother's love and her love for books. Angelou is said to have fallen in love with Shakespeare as a child. She refers to the many different books she read during her childhood in her autobiography.

The major struggle that Angelou has to come to terms with is her race. Angelou observes how her grandmother is treated while living in the South. And, without further explanation, Angelou understands as a very young child the clear distinction between white and black people. Here's an excerpt of how she felt one day after a white man gave a speech that insinuated the limitations she would have as an adult black female:
"It was awful to be Negro and have no control over my life. It was brutal to be young and already trained to sit quietly and listen to charges brought against my color with no chance of defense. We should all be dead. I thought I should like to see us all dead, one on top of the other. A pyramid of flesh with the whitefolks on the bottom, as the broad based, then the Indians with their silly tomahawks and teepees and wigwams and treaties, the Negroes with their mops and recipes and cottonsacks and spirtuals sticking out of their mouths."

The autobiography does not go beyond Angelou at age 16. I would like to know how her life unravels into the woman she is- accomplished, famous, and a professor. She has won numerous awards, written many books and poems, and she even spoke at Pres. Clinton's inauguration. I like to think that her one saving grace was love of reading.

*Side Note: One of my favorite poems ever is by Maya Angelou called Phenomenal Woman. I recommend it to all women out there. Print it out and keep it in your closet for those days when you just need to believe in yourself.