| The book is one of the six autobiographical books written by Maya Angelou. In this book, Maya Angelou returns to the United States after living in Ghana for a year or two to work with Malcolm X. But the first thing she tells Malcolm that she must do once she arrives is to go to California to reunite with her mother and brother. As soon as she arrives at her old home, she is told that Malcolm X has been assassinated.
Maya becomes very upset since she had considered Malcolm a very close friend. But that sadness turned into confusion when she learned that Malcolm X had been killed by his own kind, African Americans. Now, she really doesn't have a reason to be in the United States but knowing that she cannot go back to Ghana, she tries to pull her life together by singing in nightclubs and even trying door-to-door surveys in the city of Watts. Eventually, Dr. Martin Luther King Junior asks Maya to go around to black churches all over the United States and try to gain support for Dr. King's Poor People's March. She is very excited to get started but a telephone call depresses her. It was a call saying that Dr. King was assassinated. But with the help of her friends, she is barely pulled out of her depression and all of these events lead her to write the autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. | ||
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Plot & Themes Political/social rights fight Yes Plotlet: Period of greatest activity? - 1950+ Subject of Biography Gender - Female Profession/status: Ethnicity - Black Nationality - Central/South American Setting How much descriptions of surroundings? - 2 () United States Yes The US: - Northeast Century: - 1980's-Present Writing Style Pictures/Illustrations? - None How much dialogue in bio? - little dialog How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life? - 0-25% of book |
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