Maya Angelou was an American poet and memoirist born in 1928 in Missouri. She published her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, in 1969 about growing up in the racist town of Stamps, Arkansas in the 1930s where she experienced the prejudice and segregation of the time as a young black girl raised by her grandmother. The memoir details her difficult childhood and move to St. Louis with her father as she struggled against the injustices of racism.

2. Author/ Context
Plot Summary
Setting
Characters
Criticism on the Story

4.  born in April 4, 1928 at St. Louis, Missouri.
 came from a broken family 
 1969 she published I Know Why Caged
Birds Sing
 has been called "America's most visible
black female autobiographer“.
 has a bad childhood

5. -Marguerite, or Maya, Johnson is a young black girl
growing up in the racist town of Stamps, Arkansas.
-was sent to Arkansas along with her brother when
she was 3 and he was 4
-Momma took care of them
-Maya and her brother were both very intelligent
-Maya does not understand why white people treat
black people so terribly.
-She is merely expected to sit still and keep her
mouth shut.
-Father took them to St. Louis