Also commonly referred to as "Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," this is arguably one of the most famous pieces of work written by the late poet. Angelou also penned an autobiography with a similar title, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings in 1969, the first of seven autobiographies she would write in her lifetime.

In that novel, she would she would detail the ongoing struggle about being a Black creative, feeling as if her concerns were dismissed because of her skin color and the enduring trauma of slavery on Black Americans. The poet, who passed at 86 years old, felt that in some ways, she was still being impacted by enslavement, though emancipation happened decades prior to the time of her writing. Because of the many constraints imposed on Black Americans during the civil rights era, "Caged Bird" explains in-depth her concerns about Black independence.

Maya-Angelou-poetry

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