Unit6:Background

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was challenged by the Alabama State Textbook Committee in 1983. It was considered "dangerous" because it "preaches bitterness and hatred against whites." The book takes its title from the following poem by the American poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar (1872 - 1906):
	Sympathy I know what the caged bird feels, alas! When the sun is bright on the upland slopes; When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass, And the river flows like a stream of glass; When the first bird sings and the first bud opes, And the faint perfume from its chalice steals-- I know what the caged bird feels! I know why the caged bird beats his wing Till its blood is red on the cruel bars; For he must fly back to his perch and cling When he fain would be on the bough a-swing; And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars And they pulse again with a keener sting-- I know why he beats his wing! I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,-- When he beats his bars and he would be free; It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core, But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings-- I know why the caged bird sings! Compare Dunbar's poem with Maya Angelou's poem:
	I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings A free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wing in the orange suns rays and dares to claim the sky. But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom. The free bird thinks of another breeze and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn and he names the sky his own. But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom.
The novel was published in 1970, a year when the stormy black riots had more or less subsided. The 1960s were a time when the civil rights movement of the blacks in the U.S. reached its climax. Riots broke out in many cities, signaling the growth of black nationalism. Though all the riots were suppressed in cold blood, the black people, through their own militant fight against racial discrimination, realized their own power. “A Lesson in Living” is to be studied in the context of the awakening of the political consciousness of the blacks in the civil rights movement. It is not merely a personal story, but a story of how the blacks come to realize their own talents, power and strength. The story is autobiographical. Marguerite, the heroine in the novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the pseudonym of Maya Angelou, the author. In the novel, she tells the story of her childhood and her bitter struggle to grow into a woman of distinction.