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Resilience From Racism In I Know Why The Caged Birds Sing

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Resilience from Racism
In Maya Angelou’s first autobiographical piece, “I know why the caged birds sing,” Maya encountered many social issues regarding her being an African American living in the small town of Stamps, Arkansas. In the 1930s, African Americans made up twenty percent of the population but were represented as the fifty-four percent of the unemployed, due to the major illiteracy of blacks, in that era. In the autobiography “I know why the caged birds sing,” Maya Angelou tells a story of her own life, as an African American, living in the 1930s, during the time of black segregation. Since a very young age, Maya has experienced the effects of racism and segregation in America. She has an indoctrinated mindset that whites are beautiful and that she is just a black girl trapped in a living nightmare, nad that if she wasn’t a white girl, she wasn’t beautiful. …show more content…

We could see this through how Maya expresses her statement. When Maya sees Mrs. Bertha Flowers, she sees her as the epitome of the richest black stating on how “She was was our side’s answer to the richest white woman in town” (Angelou, 6). Maya makes this statement for the reason that since society portrays whites as superior and perfect, during her time, she could never imagined to meet a “perfect black”. Maya makes this statement as if she believes that Mrs. Flowers could be the character that she desires to become in her life, as a black person living in the time of black segregation, where racism is

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