In this coming of age autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angleou goes from a young, awkward girl to a confident independent mother at the age of 16. Maya wrote this book in the early 1970s when women autobiographies were informing readers of the importance of all women in America, including African American women. Maya was living at a time when racism and segregation were at its highest. In her story, she writes about her life while describing the battles of being a young, black, and an independent female. These factors are already hard enough just being when society is being ruled by beauty and white standards, but she deals with going through even more tough battles. One of the most difficult battles of Maya was she was sexually molested and raped by her mother's boyfriend at the young age of eight. She also endured instability...