I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

As an essay I have heard about for years, I’m glad I finally had the chance to read this incredibly famous, very well written, and timeless autobiography by Maya Angelou (rest in peace Mrs. Angelou) called I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.  Being one of the most prolific African American writers of the 20^th century, Angelou needs no introductions, but I’ll give a little background information to those of you how have been living under a rock.  Maya Angelou is a famous African America poet, thespian, and civil rights advocate.  She has received over fifty honorary degrees, an amazing accomplishment, considering she was a black woman writing a best-selling autobiography in the 1970s, where desegregation was in full swing, with many people still harboring racist attitudes toward the “colored” community. Using a very effective narrative voice, Angelou writes to explain her and her family’s struggles in Stamps, Arkansas as a black, business-owning family.  They are met with disrespectful (in modern terms) white-trash how try to feel better about themselves by kicking downward.  I’m not saying that Maya Angelou’s family was beneath the white trash, but it was the feeling at the time that black people where under any white person on the social ladder, especially in the south at the time.

Angelou has many massages in themes throughout her autobiography.  My favorite comes at the end, where her grandmother stands on the porch as so white girls come and tease and insult her grandmother.  Angelou and Momma (that’s what Angelou called her grandmother) react in two totally different ways.  Angelou gets upset and angry as the girls continue to mock and mimic her grandmother.  Angelou writes “I thought about the rifle behind the door” (Angelou 355).  She reacts negatively, her mind turning to threatening, or even murderous, means.  Momma reacts in a totally different way.  She ignores the girls and goes on singing.  Angelou writes “Momma changed her song to ‘Bread of Heaven, bread of Heaven, feed me till I want no more’” (Angelou 356).  By ignoring these girls, eventually the girls lose interest and leave.  Angelou was shown that the route of passive and peaceful resistance can calm and dissipate an unpleasant situation.  If Angelou had threatened the girls, they would get a reaction.  Like all bullies, that is what the girls were after.  When Momma did not give the reaction they wanted, the girls left.  Angelou is supporting the Civil Rights Movement’s use of nonviolent means and civil disobedience to bring about change.  We can all learn from Angelou’s timeless story.  I know I really enjoyed reading her story.  It gave an accurate portrayal of segregated life without blaiming anyone in particular.  It simply gave the facts of her life, showing the injustice and unfair treatment of the black community.  I end with saying, Maya Angelou, you gave me a new perspective through which to think.  And I am grateful.

Rest In Peace Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928-May 28, 2014).  Thank you!
(Found on google images)