I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou was first published in her book 'Shaker, Why Don't You sing' in 1983, Inspired by Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem Sympathy, the poetess has presented a contrasting picture of slavery and freedom and this picture alludes metaphorically to the differences between whites and South Americans during the Civil Rights era and the indiscrimination, racism and hatred towards The South Americans The Poetess: Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri in America, Her brother Bailey gave her the name Maya. At the age of three, her parents divorced and she had to go to live with her grandmother in Arkansas which was at that time a racist society and from the very childhood she experienced great raciest discrimination, brutality and at the age of seven, because of an assault, she lost her voice which was the result of trauma. Her teacher Bertha Flowers' efforts inspired ...