Before she was a bestselling author, beloved teacher, and Oprah mainstay, Maya Angelou was an adventurous little girl named Marguerite Johnson who was obsessed with books and wanted to become a poet someday.
In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the first of seven autobiographies (seven!) she wrote to capture her fascinating life, Angelou recounts coming of age as a Black girl in the Jim Crow South and the move to California that would change the direction of her life.
The history of this book is almost as interesting as Angelou’s life itself:
- Angelou wrote the book after James Baldwin took her to a party in 1968, hoping to cheer her up after the devastating loss of her dear friend, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. At that party, Angelou met a woman who was friends with Random House editor Robert Loomis. Talk about a “sliding doors” moment.
- Upon its publication in 1969, Angelou was hailed as “a new kind of memoirist” at a time when Black women rarely got to tell their stories with such candor.
- Caged Bird was celebrated from the jump, earning rave reviews and a National Book Award nomination.
- It has sold an estimated 2-3 million copies, has never been out of print in the 57 years since it first hit shelves, and continues to appear on English class syllabi across the U.S.
In Reading Color
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🎧 Hear our conversation about this groundbreaking read on this week’s episode of Zero to Well-Read, where Jeff pulls off a feat of alliteration impressive even for the likes of him with the phrase “personal pocket of pomposity.” Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcatcher of choice.
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