I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Summary
Maya Angelou

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Summary

Plot Summary

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is Maya Angelo's painful, yet inspiring, autobiography about her childhood as a black girl in the deep South. Maya is sent to Stamps, Arkansas, by her parents from Long Beach, California. Her parents do not have time for Maya and her brother Bailey. Maya is not accustomed to the discrimination of the South, but she soon learns about the deep differences between blacks and whites. However, her grandmother is one of the few store owners in town, and the only colored store owner. As a result, she is not only well respected by the blacks of the small community, but she is marginally respected by the whites. Therefore, Maya's experiences are different from many, even during the deepest part of the Depression.

This changes, however, when her father returns for Maya and her brother, taking them to live in St. Louis...

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