I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou describes her coming of age as a precocious but insecure black girl in the American South during the 1930s and subsequently in California during the 1940s. Maya’s parents divorce when she is only three years old and ship Maya and her older brother, Bailey, to live with their paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson, in rural Stamps, Arkansas. Annie, whom they call Momma, runs the only store in the black section of Stamps and becomes the central moral figure in Maya’s childhood.

Maya Angelou -  (Marguerite Ann Johnson) Maya Angelou—named Marguerite Ann Johnson at birth—writes about her experiences growing up as a black girl in the rural South and in the cities of St. Louis, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Maya has an unusual degree of curiosity and perceptiveness. Haunted by her displacement from her biological parents and her sense that she is ugly, Maya often isolates herself, escaping into her reading. Angelou’s autobiography traces the start of her development into an independent, wise, and compassionate woman. Bailey Johnson, Jr. -  Maya’s older brother. Like Maya, he is intelligent and mature beyond his age. Though Bailey enjoys sports and fares well in social situations, he also shows deep compassion for his isolated sister. Bailey senses the negative influences of racism, but to protect himself from despair, he chooses to anesthetize himself and subdue his soul until the negative moment passes. Annie Henderson -  (Momma) Maya and Bailey’s paternal grandmother. Momma raises them for most of their childhood. She owns the only store in the black section of Stamps, Arkansas, and it serves as the central gathering place for the black community. She raises the children according to stern Christian values and strict rules. Though she never reacts with emotion, both children feel her love anyway. Read an in-depth analysis of Annie Henderson.

Vivian Baxter -  Bailey and Maya’s mother. Although she has a nursing degree, she earns most of her money working in gambling parlors or by gambling herself. Though Vivian and Momma have very different values, they are both strong, supportive women. A somewhat inattentive mother, Vivian nevertheless treats her children with love and respect. Read an in-depth analysis of Vivian Baxter.

Big Bailey Johnson -  Maya and Bailey’s father. Despite his lively personality, he is handsome, vain, and selfish. He stands out among the other rural blacks because of his proper English and his flashy possessions. Maya implies that Big Bailey’s pretensions result from his disenfranchisement as a black man in the United States. Big Bailey does not respect, care for, or connect with Maya. Read an in-depth analysis of Big Bailey Johnson.

Willie Johnson -  Momma’s son, who is in his thirties. Injured in a childhood accident, Uncle Willie lives his entire life with Momma. He suffers insults and jokes because of his disability. Like Momma, he is a devout Christian, and he acts as the children’s disciplinarian and protector. Daddy Clidell -  Vivian’s second husband, whom she marries after her children join her in California. Although Maya initially tries to dismiss him, Daddy Clidell becomes the only real “father” Maya knows. He combines the virtues of strength and tenderness and enjoys thinking of himself as Maya’s father. He introduces her to his con-men friends and teaches her how to play poker. A successful businessman despite his lack of education, he remains modest and confident. Mr. Freeman -  Vivian’s live-in boyfriend in St. Louis. When Maya and Bailey move to St. Louis, Mr. Freeman sexually molests and rapes Maya, taking advantage of her need for physical affection and her innocent, self-conscious nature. In retrospect, Maya feels partly responsible for Mr. Freeman’s fate, and her guilt over his murder haunts her throughout her childhood. Mrs. Bertha Flowers -  A black aristocrat living in Stamps, Arkansas. One of Maya’s idols, she becomes the first person to prod Maya out of her silence after Maya’s rape, taking an interest in Maya and making her feel special. Maya respects Mrs. Flowers mainly for encouraging her love of literature. Mrs. Viola Cullinan -  A Southern white woman in Stamps and Maya’s first employer. Perhaps unwittingly, she hides her racism under a self-deceptive veneer of gentility. Mrs. Cullinan’s disrespect for Maya’s wish to be called by her given name leads to Maya’s subtly rebellious smashing of the Cullinans’ china. Glory -  (Formerly Hallelujah) Mrs. Cullinan’s cook. A descendent of the slaves once owned by the Cullinan family, her acceptance of Mrs. Cullinan’s condescending and racist renaming practices contrasts with Maya’s resistance. Mr. Edward Donleavy -  A white speaker at Maya’s eighth-grade graduation ceremony. He insults the black community by talking condescendingly, but not explicitly, of their limited potential in a racist society. His racist tone casts a pall over the graduation and infuriates Maya. Henry Reed -  The valedictorian of Maya’s eighth-grade graduating class. He leads the class in “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” popularly known as the Black National Anthem, and renews his community’s pride following Mr. Donleavy’s speech. This moment catalyzes Maya’s great pride in her heritage and also inspires her passion for black poets and orators. Dolores Stockland -  Big Bailey’s prim-and-proper live-in girlfriend in Los Angeles. Maya spends the summer with them when she is fifteen and drives Dolores into a jealous rage. Maya’s decision to show compassion toward her shows Maya’s capacity for mercy, despite her self-aware and proud nature. Louise Kendricks -  Maya’s first friend outside her family. When she is with Louise, Maya is able to escape her troubles and play like a child should. Tommy Valdon -  An eighth-grader who writes Maya a valentine. Maya reacts with hostility at first, distrusting any man’s advances after the rape. She softens when Tommy writes her another letter showing that his interest in her is sincere. Joyce -  Bailey’s first love, with whom he loses his virginity. Joyce’s relationship with Bailey foreshadows the troubles associated with adolescent sexuality that Maya will experience in San Francisco. Four years older than Bailey, Joyce turns his innocent displays of sexual curiosity playing “Momma and Papa” into sexual intercourse and eventually runs away with a railroad porter whom she meets at the store, leaving Bailey heartbroken and morose. Dr. Lincoln -  A white dentist in Stamps to whom Momma lent money during the Great Depression. Momma’s staunch effort to appeal to his sense of ethics to support her in treating Maya’s tooth shows both her resolve and her ability to act somewhat unethically out of necessity. The scene also reinforces Maya’s impression of Momma as a superhero. Stonewall Jimmy, Spots, Just Black, Cool Clyde, Tight Coat, and Red Leg Daddy -  Clidell’s con-men friends, who teach Maya that it is possible to use white prejudice to gain advantage over whites. They represent creativity and the ethics that result from necessity and desperation. Mrs. Florida Taylor  -  Mr. Taylor’s wife of forty years. Maya attends Florida’s funeral and confronts her own mortality for the first time. Miss Kirwin -  Maya’s teacher in San Francisco. Miss Kirwin treats Maya like an equal human being, regardless of her color.

As young children, Maya and Bailey struggle with the pain of having been rejected and abandoned by their parents. Maya also finds herself tormented by the belief that she is an ugly child who will never measure up to genteel, white girls. She does not feel equal to other black children. One Easter Sunday, Maya is unable to finish reciting a poem in church, and self-consciously feeling ridiculed and a failure, Maya races from the church crying, laughing, and wetting herself. Bailey sticks up for Maya when people actually make fun of her to her face, wielding his charisma to put others in their place.

Growing up in Stamps, Maya faces a deep-seated southern racism manifested in wearying daily indignities and terrifying lynch mobs. She spends time at Momma’s store, observing the cotton-pickers as they journey to and from work in the fields. When Maya is eight, her father, of whom she has no memory, arrives in Stamps unexpectedly and takes her and Bailey to live with their mother, Vivian, in St. Louis, Missouri. Beautiful and alluring, Vivian lives a wild life working in gambling parlors. One morning Vivian’s live-in boyfriend, Mr. Freeman, sexually molests Maya, and he later rapes her. They go to court and afterward Mr. Freeman is violently murdered, probably by some the underground criminal associates of Maya’s family.

In the aftermath of these events, Maya endures the guilt and shame of having been sexually abused. She also believes that she bears responsibility for Mr. Freeman’s death because she denied in court that he had molested her prior to the rape. Believing that she has become a mouthpiece for the devil, Maya stops speaking to everyone except Bailey. Her mother’s family accepts her silence at first as temporary post-rape trauma, but they later become frustrated and angry at what they perceive to be disrespectful behavior.

To Maya’s relief, but Bailey’s regret, Maya and Bailey return to Stamps to live with Momma. Momma manages to break through Maya’s silence by introducing her to Mrs. Bertha Flowers, a kind, educated woman who tells Maya to read works of literature out loud, giving her books of poetry that help her to regain her voice.

During these years in Stamps, Maya becomes aware of both the fragility and the strength of her community. She attends a church revival during which a priest preaches implicitly against white hypocrisy through his sermon on charity. The spiritual strength gained during the sermon soon dissipates as the revival crowd walks home past the honky-tonk party. Maya also observes the entire community listening to the Joe Louis heavyweight championship boxing match, desperately longing for him to defend his title against his white opponent.

Maya endures several appalling incidents that teach her about the insidious nature of racism. At age ten, Maya takes a job for a white woman who calls Maya “Mary” for her own convenience. Maya becomes enraged and retaliates by breaking the woman’s fine china. At Maya’s eighth grade graduation, a white speaker devastates the proud community by explaining that black students are expected to become only athletes or servants. When Maya gets a rotten tooth, Momma takes her to the only dentist in Stamps, a white man who insults her, saying he’d rather place his hand in a dog’s mouth than in hers. The last straw comes when Bailey encounters a dead, rotting black man and witnesses a white man’s satisfaction at seeing the body. Momma begins to fear for the children’s well-being and saves money to bring them to Vivian, who now lives in California.

When Maya is thirteen, the family moves to live with Vivian in Los Angeles and then in Oakland, California. When Vivian marries Daddy Clidell, a positive father figure, they move with him to San Francisco, the first city where Maya feels at home. She spends one summer with her father, Big Bailey, in Los Angeles and has to put up with his cruel indifference and his hostile girlfriend, Dolores. After Dolores cuts her in a fight, Maya runs away and lives for a month with a group of homeless teenagers in a junkyard. She returns to San Francisco strong and self-assured. She defies racist hiring policies in wartime San Francisco to become the first black streetcar conductor at age fifteen. At sixteen, she hides her pregnancy from her mother and stepfather for eight months and graduates from high school. The account ends as Maya begins to feel confident as a mother to her newborn son.