About the Author
Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, to Bailey and Vivian Baxter Johnson. When she was three years […]
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Setting
The book begins in 1931 with Maya’s earliest childhood memories and proceeds through the end of World War II. Events of great social significance-from the […]
Themes and Characters
Angelou shapes the narrative of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings with two traditional themes of autobiography: the triumph over obstacles and the search […]
Literary Qualities
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings begins as a narrative of a young black girl growing up in the care of her grandmother in […]
Social Sensitivity
Segregation was so complete in the 1930s “that most black children didn’t really absolutely know what whites looked like,” and Angelou herself “never remembers that […]
Topics for Discussion
1. What does Maya think about her grandmother’s religious beliefs? Why is the church so important to Momma? 2. Why is the next door neighbor, […]
Ideas for Reports and Papers
1. Research Joe Louis’s rise to prominence in the boxing world, and the difficulties he faced as the first black champion prize fighter. 2. Angelou […]
Related Titles and Adaptations
The success of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings encouraged Angelou and her publishers to publish four additional autobiographical novels that cover the years […]