I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou's Autobiography, #1) in Retro Chapter Chicks

Feb 11, 2017 Brina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: african-american, classics, 500-great-books-women, national-book-award, memoirs

Maya Angelou was a poet and Nobel laureate who once gave an address at President Clinton's inauguration. Before she won her multitudes of awards and honors, Maya was raised in rural Stamps, Arkansas by her grandmother and uncle during the depression. First published in 1969 and now considered a modern classic, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings details Angelou's tumultuous childhood in poignant detail.

Born Marguerite Johnson and often called Ritie, Maya and her older brother Bailey were taken to l Maya Angelou was a poet and Nobel laureate who once gave an address at President Clinton's inauguration. Before she won her multitudes of awards and honors, Maya was raised in rural Stamps, Arkansas by her grandmother and uncle during the depression. First published in 1969 and now considered a modern classic, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings details Angelou's tumultuous childhood in poignant detail.

Born Marguerite Johnson and often called Ritie, Maya and her older brother Bailey were taken to live with their grandmother at young ages following their parents' divorce. Even though the south was still in the throes of Jim Crow and Stamps was at the forefront of segregation, young Maya appeared to enjoy a loving childhood. Raised by a strict, church going grandmother and uncle, Maya and Bailey turned to both books and each other for comfort. Devouring books like candy, both children quickly advanced through the Stamps educational system, two grades ahead of schedule.

When Maya was eight and Bailey nine, their father came to Arkansas and brought them to live with their mother in St Louis. Coming from a multi racial family, members of Maya's maternal family were light skinned enough to pass for white and some integrated into the German community. It was in St Louis, a city that should have afforded Maya more opportunities than rural Stamps, that she experienced the low point in her childhood. Physically abused by her mother's fiancé, Maya recovered and returned to Stamps and a loving environment. She and Bailey continued to live with their grandmother until they had advanced beyond what the education system offered them in the segregated south. With no future other than a house servant or cotton picker, the two were returned to their mother, now living in desegregated California.

While in California, Maya experienced highs and lows as well as Jim Crow rearing its ugly head, the low point of which was living in a car in a junk yard for a month. These experiences, including being reunited with both parents and establishing relationships with them, made for events that Maya could reflect on later on in life in this volume. I find it extraordinary that Maya could overcome being abused as a young child and still manage to graduate school two years ahead of schedule at a high academic level. This is a testament to her grandmother as well as her personal fabric. This fabric lead her to be the first colored streetcar operator in San Francisco and later on the poet laureate that people recognize to this day.

Maya Angelou noted her writing influences as Langston Hughes, Paul Laurence Dunbar, as well as Booker T Washington who encouraged a generation of African Americans to achieve employment through a stellar education. In her dedication, Angelou also cites her parents as being positive influences in her life after they reconciled. A gifted author and poet who was advanced well beyond her years as a child, Maya graced us with her powerful prose in all of her works of literature. A poignant look into a childhood in the Jim Crow, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings reveals the upbringing of a remarkable American woman. A courageous glimpse into Angelou's life, this first memoir of hers easily merits 5 bright stars. ...more

328 likes · Like · see review

May 26, 2014 Candi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, non-fiction, african-american

The first of a series of autobiographies by Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is simultaneously heartrending and inspiring. This beautiful memoir of Ms. Angelou’s years as a child up to the age of seventeen exemplifies the resilience of a strong human spirit. Living with her grandmother, uncle, and brother in the segregated state of Arkansas during the 1930’s and early 1940’s, Maya, or Marguerite as she was called, was forced to deal with abandonment, racial prejudices, and grievous The first of a series of autobiographies by Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is simultaneously heartrending and inspiring. This beautiful memoir of Ms. Angelou’s years as a child up to the age of seventeen exemplifies the resilience of a strong human spirit. Living with her grandmother, uncle, and brother in the segregated state of Arkansas during the 1930’s and early 1940’s, Maya, or Marguerite as she was called, was forced to deal with abandonment, racial prejudices, and grievous abuse. And yet, Marguerite showed astonishing strength and courage through all this pain and hardship and emerged as a powerful role model for anyone that has suffered from hatred, injustice, or misfortune.

Growing up, Marguerite reflects on what it was like to be a young black girl living during these times, as well as her insecurities regarding her own image. Not uncommon to many young girls, she felt awkward and plain. When describing her excitement over a new dress for church, Marguerite notes “I was going to look like one of the sweet little white girls who were everybody’s dream of what was right with the world”, and later …”I thought that if she was planning to marry our father she must have been horrified to find herself with a nearly six-foot prospective stepdaughter who was not even pretty.”

I especially enjoyed Maya’s descriptions of her love for books. Reading provided a refuge for little Marguerite, as well as an inspiration for her writing in her adult life. I could easily envision such cozy descriptions as “There was going to be a storm and it was a perfect night for rereading Jane Eyre. Bailey had finished his chores and was already behind the stove with Mark Twain… Pots rattled in the kitchen where Momma was frying corn cakes to go with vegetable soup for supper, and the homey sounds and scents cushioned me as I read of Jane Eyre in the cold English mansion of a colder English gentleman.” Food was a comfort for Marguerite as well and also provided for some very mouthwatering narrative. Humor and sarcasm were not lacking within the pages of Ms. Angelou’s memoir either. Many of these moments seemed to have occurred while attending weekly church services or occasional revival meetings. Marguerite recalls going to church one morning while Reverend Thomas was preaching the words “Great God of Mount Nebo” and Sister Thomas, given to bouts of shouting and jerking when feeling the spirit, approached the Reverend, hit him with her purse, and knocked out his false teeth. “The grinning uppers and lowers lay by my right shoe, looking empty and at the same time appearing to contain all the emptiness in the world.” I could not keep myself from snickering along with Marguerite’s contagious and hysterical laughter.

Despite the books, the food and the humor, Marguerite suffered as well. One could not read this book without your heart going out to her when she experienced rage, loneliness, and physical and emotional pain. The retelling of some of the more horrific incidents in her life is astonishing, graphic, and brutal. But throughout this very personal account of Maya Angelou’s early and formative years, we can see her little triumphs and celebrate with her. Reflecting on her graduation from the eighth grade, Maya says “We were on top again. As always, again. We survived. The depths had been icy and dark, but now a bright sun spoke to our souls. I was no longer simply a member of the proud graduating class of 1940; I was a proud member of the wonderful, beautiful Negro race.” Maya did survive and her numerous achievements point to her victory over adversity and injustice. I look forward to reading the next “chapter” in this inspirational woman’s life story.
...more

105 likes · Like · see review

Sep 18, 2014 Book Concierge rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: concierge, strong-women, women-writers, library, social-commentary, southern-lit, african-american, memoir, coming-of-age, 20th-century

Audiobook performed by the author

This is the first memoir in a series of six which together formed Angelou’s autobiography. In this work she chronicles her childhood from about age three to age 17. She begins when she and her brother, Bailey Jr (one year her senior) were sent to live with their paternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas after their parents divorced. In the home of Mrs Annie Henderson, Maya and Bailey learned their multiplication tables, their Bible studies, good manners, and prope ...more

7 likes · Like · see review