Why I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings?

After Maya started speaking again at the age of 13, thanks to one of her teacher and as well as a family friend, Mrs. Bertha Flowers who helped her cope though that ruff time period, she had a whole new outlook on what she wanted to do with her life . “It was through literature that she found her voice again. And what a voice it was and is.” (Emilie M. Townes). By the age of 14, during World War II, Maya was living with her mother and brother in Oakland California. She attended the California Labor School where she had won a scholarship to study drama and dance at San Francisco’s Labor School. Three weeks after graduating from school at the age of 17, she gave birth to her son who was named Guy Johnson. Shortly afterwards, she dropped out of school and became the first African American female cable car conductor.

Maya Angelou was a civil rights activist, author, and poet. She wrote many books and poems that conveyed the vivid experiences in her life. Maya Angelou’s works are well known and she is an eminent writer. One poem in particular that is well known is “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” written in 1969. In this work she described racial inequality, and the lack of freedom African Americans experienced in the 1930’s and 40’s. Maya Angelou uses many Rhetorical strategies and literary devices to describe the lack of racial freedom in the world at this time.

African Americans living in the south face a lot of hate and prejudice. The civil rights movement improved the lives of many blacks. Maya Angelou in her memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, uncovers the racism that blacks face and how Maya begins to think she is less equal that whites.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, an autobiographical novel written by Maya Angelou, was published in the year 1969. The novel follows Maya as a young girl facing challenges such as racism and sexism following the civil rights movement. While reading the book, the reader is introduced to events in history such as the Great Depression and World War II.

In 1879 Thousands of African Americans migrate out of south to escape oppression. There was a better way life and opportunities in the industrialized North and in the West. African American weren’t taught to read so their job opportunities were limited. White people believed teaching blacks to read would hold blacks back. They were forced to be home makers (maids for white people) or

What was the effect of the Black fighter, Joe Louis ' victory over his white opponent?

Next, the author Maya Angelou was born April 4,1928, in St.Louis, Missouri. Maya’s parents divorced each other while Angelou was at a young age. Due to this incident Angelou had to move in with her father’s mother who lived in Arkansas. Down in Arkansas she had to deal with segregation and discrimination towards her race and color. During her time living with her grandmother, her mother

Maya Angelou was born April 4, 1928. Her real name is Marguerite Johnson, but she later changed it to Maya. She was born in St. Louis, shortly after her birth her family up and move to Arkansaw. Maya grew up there in the rural parts of Arkansaw, and later married to a South African Freedom Fighter. She lived in Cairo with him, there she began her career as editor of the Arab Observer.

By the 1870s the Civil rights Act in full force and the African American had gained the right to vote, right to get married, equal protection under the law, the right to own land and a right to an education. The former slaves had come along way but things were not as great as they may seem. In many ways, the former slaves were still controlled by the white southerners. Many of the African Americans struggled to find work outside of working on plantations which left them with little money and without money life was difficult. The white southerners could go around the laws made by the Federal government and still for the most part control the African American southerners. A quote from our book, “We are sheep in the midst of wolves” stood out to me as a very accurate representation of what life would have been like for African Americans living in the South during this time. Overall though the African Americans had come a long way from slaves who worked the fields from dawn until dusk, but still needed to progress further.

African Americans had little opportunity to better themselves economically. Some laws prohibited them from teaching and from entering certain other businesses and professions. Large numbers of blacks had to take low-paying jobs as farm hands or as servants for white employers. Many others were forced to become sharecroppers or tenant framers. They rented small plots of land and paid the rent with money earned from the crops. Struggling to survive, many ran up huge debts to their white landlords or the town merchants. Fortunately, there were rays of sunshine forcing their way through this cloudy time.

African American’s, after the Civil War and abolishment of slavery, still found themselves in a racist and oppressive society. Though legally free, lots were still engaged in forced labor. Threatened with back lash by their so called “masters” they were trying to find their way as free people. Trying to find some sort of or create better reality in a vile society of people who still believed African American’s were only fit to be slaves. The onslaught of World War I gave African American’s an opportunity to leave the vile societies of the south.

In some cases, when you look at the letter itself you can see that it was written with minor errors and deep felt eagerness to receive an answer or advice for the next step into overcoming this troubling time. By this letter we can see that the African American population denies to stay quiet and wants to break the silence for the mistreatment that they have gone through we could relate that to the 20th century today because we still have injustice against African-Americans and the immigration population, as well. This letter is a small demonstration of 20th century music, poetry, art, protests, petitions, speech and much more as it evolved. The possibilities should not be restricted from the people that work, live, harbor the same land everyone else does

Blacks were not recovered from the cruel history of slavery, they were deeply traumatizing, and continually living under the domination of white privilege. For instance, there was the tendency of blacks of being involved in controlling the work schedules and processes but they were forced to be involved in giving up the fruits of their hard work since they were not the landowners. This contributed to keeping the blacks under the dominance of the whites and experiencing poverty in the United States. Again, economic status of the black people was affected by the introduction of mass production where machines were introduced making most of African Americans to lose their job hence leading to the poverty. Black people were underpaid and again machines reduced the job opportunities (Essien-Udom, pp. 207). This contributed to W.E.B DuBois to be involved in Black Nationalism where they were fighting for the improvement of their economic status in the

Dr. Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. Her father, Baily Johnson, was a doorman, and, later a dietician for the navy. Her mother, Vivian Johnson, was a registered nurse. When Angelou was three years old, her parents were divorced. They sent her and her four-year-old brother, Baily, Jr., to live with their paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson, in Stamps, Arkansas. Henderson ran a small general store and managed to scrape by. She continued to do so after her grandchildren joined her. Angelou's grandmother was one the many strong who trained her, helped her, and provided her with role models. The people of her church also nurtured her and gave her a sense of belonging to a community. But her

Throughout her life, Marguerite experiences many different situations and people that all contribute to the way she grows up and the person she becomes. Despite some of her tragic circumstances, she learns a lot growing up, mainly because of the African-American women in her life who teach her all different life lessons. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Marguerite gets to absorb teachings from her mother (Vivian), Mrs. Bertha Flowers, and her grandmother (Momma). These women allow Marguerite to learn and grow as an African-American female, all while paving her own way.