Why The Caged Bird Sings
In the 1930’s, America descendants of African Slaves grew up in segregated communities and social structure from other races. The younger generation of African Americans learned to view many ways of life vastly different from their previous generation. With the Great Depression happening in America, the African Americans had to work harder to simply have the basic needs and survive. African Americans had their own part separated and segregated from the rest of the city and towns they resided in. This was forced upon their community to live isolated from other races. They lacked access to medical, dental, or even certain stores would refuse to serve them.
In Stamps, Arkansas a young African American girl named Maya …show more content…
Louis, Missouri she was raped. This trauma Maya endured caused her to become mute for five years. Over the five years Maya read literature such as, Edgar Allen Poe, Paul Lawrence, and William Shakespeare. It was not until Maya was introduced to Mrs. Flowers, who was a very well educated and respected African American woman, got Maya to speak again. Maya recalled in her children’s book Mrs. Flowers: A Moment of Friendship “Mrs. Flowers Emphasized the importance of the spoken word, she explained the nature of and importance of education, and instilled in her a love of poetry (The Poetry Foundation).” Maya would be awarded many honors in her life, such as the National Medal of Art by President Bill Clinton (2000) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest civilian honor in the US by President Barack Obama (2010) along with numerous honorary degrees (The Poetry …show more content…
When Maya, who was thirteen at the time, had a toothache that couldn’t be dealt with at home her grandmother needed to find a dentist to help. Mamma knew Dentist Lincoln, a white man, from a previous business deal. Maya, standing on the outside steps with her head wrapped in ice and gauze in pain listening to her grandmother beg Mr. Lincoln for help just this once. She hears hate spewed from Mr. Lincoln’s mouth “Annie, my policy is I’d rather stick my hand in a dog’s mouth than in a nigger’s.”(189) Not only did this disrespect Mama, but also downgraded Maya from a human to absolutely nothing. Dentist Lincoln felt it was perfectly acceptable to go to an African American for financial help, but when the roles are reversed Dentist Lincoln finds it very repulsive to even be asked. The Dentist feels a dog is worth more value than a young African American girl in need of help and is in suffering pain. Dentist Lincoln views African Americans are worth nothing but dirt, except for when it benefits him directly. Maya felt distressed over how Mama was treated trying to help her, and was scared to what the dentist might have done to her if he did end up helping her. This face to face altercation has a very major significant impact on Maya for the rest of her
In the 1930’s, America descendants of African Slaves grew up in segregated communities and social structure from other races. The younger generation of African Americans learned to view many ways of life vastly different from their previous generation. With the Great Depression happening in America, the African Americans had to work harder to simply have the basic needs and survive. African Americans had their own part separated and segregated from the rest of the city and towns they resided in. This was forced upon their community to live isolated from other races. They lacked access to medical, dental, or even certain stores would refuse to serve them.
In Stamps, Arkansas a young African American girl named Maya …show more content…
Louis, Missouri she was raped. This trauma Maya endured caused her to become mute for five years. Over the five years Maya read literature such as, Edgar Allen Poe, Paul Lawrence, and William Shakespeare. It was not until Maya was introduced to Mrs. Flowers, who was a very well educated and respected African American woman, got Maya to speak again. Maya recalled in her children’s book Mrs. Flowers: A Moment of Friendship “Mrs. Flowers Emphasized the importance of the spoken word, she explained the nature of and importance of education, and instilled in her a love of poetry (The Poetry Foundation).” Maya would be awarded many honors in her life, such as the National Medal of Art by President Bill Clinton (2000) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest civilian honor in the US by President Barack Obama (2010) along with numerous honorary degrees (The Poetry …show more content…
When Maya, who was thirteen at the time, had a toothache that couldn’t be dealt with at home her grandmother needed to find a dentist to help. Mamma knew Dentist Lincoln, a white man, from a previous business deal. Maya, standing on the outside steps with her head wrapped in ice and gauze in pain listening to her grandmother beg Mr. Lincoln for help just this once. She hears hate spewed from Mr. Lincoln’s mouth “Annie, my policy is I’d rather stick my hand in a dog’s mouth than in a nigger’s.”(189) Not only did this disrespect Mama, but also downgraded Maya from a human to absolutely nothing. Dentist Lincoln felt it was perfectly acceptable to go to an African American for financial help, but when the roles are reversed Dentist Lincoln finds it very repulsive to even be asked. The Dentist feels a dog is worth more value than a young African American girl in need of help and is in suffering pain. Dentist Lincoln views African Americans are worth nothing but dirt, except for when it benefits him directly. Maya felt distressed over how Mama was treated trying to help her, and was scared to what the dentist might have done to her if he did end up helping her. This face to face altercation has a very major significant impact on Maya for the rest of her