Sickels discusses the historical events that surround Angelou's life: the civil rights, black power, and black arts movements as well as the emergence of black women's literature with the first publications of Toni Morrison, Nikki Giovanni, Alice Walker, and Lucille Clifton.
Evans provide valuable context for reader's new to Angelou's work. The Paris Review's Christopher Cox reminds readers of how revolutionary Angelou's autobiography was when it was published and recounts the comments Angelou made on her work in an interview with George Plimpton.įour original essays by Amy Sickels, Pamela Loos, Neil Heims, and Robert C. Mickle's introduction pays tribute to Angelou's achievement and examines the inspiration she drew from Phillis Wheatley's civil rights advocacy as well as the similarities between Caged Bird and Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Paul Lawrence Dunbar's poetry. Mickle, Assistant Professor of English at Penn State Greater Allegheny. Three decades after it was published, readers continue to admire Angelou's artistry, wit, and indomitable spirit.Įdited by Mildred R. Despite controversy over its frank depiction of sexual abuse, the autobiography is still widely read in high schools and colleges across the country. As it shot to the top of best-seller lists, it made Angelou one of the most recognized black women in America. “ I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings liberates the reader into life simply because Maya Angelou confronts her own life with such a moving wonder, such a luminous dignity.Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings took the world by storm when it was published in 1969. Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read.
Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age-and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Mass Market Paperback – April 21, 2009īy Maya Angelou (Author), Oprah Winfrey (Foreword)
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