I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
About this book
She was born Marguerite, but her brother Bailey nicknamed her Maya ("mine"). As little children they were sent to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. Their early world revolved around this remarkable woman and the Store she ran for the black community. White people were more than strangers - they were from another planet. And yet, even unseen they ruled.
The Store was a microcosm of life: its orderly pattern was a comfort, even among the meanest frustrations. But then came the intruders - first in the form of taunting poorwhite children who were bested only by the grandmother's dignity. But as the awful, unfathomable mystery of prejudice intruded, so did the unexpected joy of a surprise visit by Daddy, the sinful joy of going to Church, the disappointments of a Depression Christmas.
A visit to St. Louis and the Most Beautiful Mother in the World ended in tragedy - rape. Thereafter Maya refused to speak, except to the person closest to her, Bailey. Eventually, Maya and Bailey followed their mother to California. There, the formative phase of her life (as well as this book) comes to a close with the painful discovery of the true nature of her father, the emergence of a hard-won independence and - perhaps most important - a baby, born out of wedlock, loved and kept.
Superbly told, with the poet's gift for language and observation, and charged with the unforgetable emotion of remembered anguish and love - this remarkable autobiography by an equally remarkable black girl from Arkansas captures, indelibly, a world of which most Americans are shamefully ignorant.
Subjects
- 1000blackgirlbooks
- african american authors
- african american authors--biography
- african american entertainers
- african american families
- african american families--arkansas
- african americans, biography
- african american women
- african american women authors
- african american women authors--20th century--biography
- american authors
- american women authors
- angelou, maya
- angelou, maya, 1928-2014
- arkansas, social life and customs
- artistas
- authors, american
- authors, american--20th century--biography
- authors, american--homes and haunts
- authors, american--homes and haunts--arkansas
- authors, biography
- autobiography
- autoras afronorteamericanas
- biografía
- biography
- biography,
- biography & autobiography
- black authors
- childhood and youth
- childhood and youthangelou, maya
- country life
- entertainers
- entertainers--united states--biography
- history and criticism
- homes
- homes and haunts
- homes and hauntsangelou, maya
- intellectual life
- manners and customs
- new york times bestseller
- nonfiction
- nyt:combined-print-and-e-book-nonfiction=2014-06-15
- open_syllabus_project
- political science
- ps3551.n464 z466 2009
- public policy
- reading level-grade 11
- reading level-grade 12
- social conditions
- social life and customs