I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou


                Can you imagine a young, youthful and vibrant Maya Angelou? Honestly, the renowned poet, author and activist running around on dirt roads, bathing outside with water from a well, living in a tiny town in Arkansas? I couldn’t until I started reading her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In her autobiography Angelou reveals information about her youth from being sent on a train with her brother to Arkansas when they were three and four as their parents divorced, to being pregnant and delivering her first child. It all starts in the 1920’s and the racial tension was painfully obvious between blacks and whites. Momma, Maya’s grandmother, owned the only Negro general store in town and it was the social hub of the community. It was here Maya, born Marguerite Johnson, and her brother Bailey Junior would learn many of their lessons about life and what it meant to be black in this world. Both were intelligent children who struggled with the fact that they had been abandoned by their parents at such a young age. As they grew and their relationship with their parents changed so did their identity and their circumstances. Maya’s family would go through many transitions and she struggled to understand much because of her youth. But what was painstakingly clear at a young age, was that her color and the various shades of her people drew a line between what was okay for them and for whites. Trying to understand the reasons behind that play a hug role in maturing and establishing herself throughout her youth.

                Maya Angelou represents so much to the black community. She is well known and well respected and a personality I have known since very early in my youth. I even remember memorizing and performing some of her poems as a young child. Reading about her experiences as a child and trying to understand how she dealt with and was able to move forward in life is complicated. Many things have changed but a lot has stayed and the same. While my experience as a young black woman is different than hers there are some overwhelming similarities. Hearing some of the stories of the elders of my family and reading Maya’s written account of her life brings about the need for more change in my opinion. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is so honest that it is in many ways heartbreaking. Maya’s way of storytelling is so poetic and yet brutal in its delivery that you are left aghast at the majority of the experiences. This was her life and she expressed it in a most powerful way how her life was influenced by her color and how those around her responded to that. This is am autobiography that I have to recommend and I give it 4 out of 5 stars. This isn’t just Maya’s story. It’s the story of many young black women and it is one that must continue to be shared. 

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