I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Essay

I took much of the dogmatic and rigid teachings that were based in tradition rather than theology as truth without question, and grew up feeling like I had very little say in my own life. I have spent much of my adult life unlearning things about God that I grew up believing and reexamining my understanding of God, much of which was spurred by accepting that I am bisexual. I’ve been questioning my sexuality since I was in high school, and it was only in the…

Franklin and Nina Simone, and prolific writers like Phillis Wheatley and women who were all of these things like Maya Angelou, used their talents to bring light to women of color and the oppression that is faced by them on a daily basis. In the poem “Still I Rise”, Maya Angelou uses strong descriptive words, repetition, and the experiences of her life to encourage a message of hope in the lives of oppressed people that it is possible to be something more and to make a difference in the…

Art that consist of pieces of burning the Bible, nudity, and racial slander exemplifies offensive art that exist in the world. Art often depicts many emotions and provides enjoyment to numerous people, but often art can cause conversation that is either appropriate or derogatory. First, what are some examples of offensive art? Artwork has grown into many different realms and genres; many examples exist on city streets, television, and museums. Next, what reasons cause art to be censored? Pieces…

written and published when Mr.Salehi Babamiri was matriculating through his college career. He has written many articles throughout his life. Some of the articles in which he wrote are entitled “Masculinity/Femininity in Maya Angelou's I know why the Caged Bird Sings, The Sense of Exile and Abandonment in William Trevor’s Novel Felicia Journey, and Masculinity\Femininity in Alice Walker’s Color Purple: A Womanist…

she historically recognize African American struggles to an education, but she uses this as an encouragement to the African American youth in order for them to regain the perseverance to be educated. This is similar to the article, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Sing," where Francine Prose argues many students are out-of-touch with their desire to read or acknowledge the beauty of literature due to the lack of being taught other works of literature. She advises parents, and teachers to "make…

There were many great leaders during the Civil Rights Movement. Many of those leaders fought hard for what they believed in and sometimes the fates of those courageous people were not pleasant. Leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela fought the battle against discrimination peacefully; however, it resulted in great consequences for them both. Today, the world is familiar with some of the events that occurred during this time of struggle and devastation. It was never easy for the…

the true nature of herself. The reason why I decided to write about this intelligent woman is because she truly inspires and teaches me. She inspires me to not be afraid of what I see in the mirror and seek to diminish my appearance for the approval of others. She shows me that pain can one day turn into joy and opportunities the next. I remember reading her works when I was younger, and the way she grabbed my attention through her pain was something that I had never experienced. In one of my…

accordance with Black Boy “He didn’t see a man with hopes and dreams, with disappointments and accomplishments. All he saw in front of him was just another nigger.” I wanted to start my research paper off with this quote because it speaks to me in a way where it is in accordance with police and the novel Black boy in this research paper I will talk about both of these topics. In spite of the way that it is essentially individual, sometimes Black Boy does not take after a common life account. In…

afraid of them judging you for the worst, not all of us can relate to being part of the Chinese culture. The narrator portrays the feeling of being a teenager and yearning to fit in right off the bat when she states in the first paragraph, “For Christmas I prayed for…a slim new American nose.” You can quickly pick up her desperate tone in order to be a white American. The setting of the story is a traditional Chinese family hosting a Christmas Eve dinner and having a minister and his family over…

the case with the religion of the Southern slaveholders. Indeed, Frederick Douglass, a former slave, found that religious masters were often the cruelest. “I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the south is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes…Were I to be again reduced to the chains of slavery, next to that enslavement, I should regard being the slave of a religious master the greatest calamity to befall me” (Douglass…