Maya Angelou Controversy

Maya Angelou: Great Controversial Author

Some may wonder what it is like growing up as an African-American, right after the slave period. Where segregation, and racism was a much bigger problem than today. Maya Angelou knew what this felt like because she lived through so much agony, and pain, which inspired her to write about her past. Her writing was inspiration for others that have been through the same thing, being told to be quiet, and having terrible childhood dramas. Her writing brought joy to herself and others, by the way that so many people could relate to what she had been through.Instead of letting her childhood haunt her, Maya Angelou put those hardships into her most famous novel I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, that inspires

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is her most famous novel describing what she had gone through in her childhood like being raped by her mother’s boyfriend, and always living in fear of the Ku Klux Klan. Being raped had a huge impact on her life, such a big impact that she did not talk for six years. She lived in fear of the thought that her voice killed the man: “And it seemed he had been kicked to death. They made that pronouncement in my earshot. And I thought my voice killed the man - and so it’s better not to speak. So for six years, I didn’t speak” (Greene, Inskeep, 2). Maya’s family and friends really helped her get through this rough stage of her life. Especially her brother, he was the only one she would talk to after the incident. This was because she was scared that if she talked to anyone else about it, like a grown up, then they would tell the cops and she thought the man would kill her brother Bailey. Besides her brother Bailey having a huge influence on her life, her grandmother was very helpful as well. Mainly because she introduced her to Mrs. Flowers who guided her in taking baby steps back to talking. Like, reading aloud and telling her to write, which built up her confidence to talk once again and most importantly was an inspiration to write. Maya’s book was not just an inspiration for her but for others as well, teaching them not to be quiet and speak up if something like what she had been through as a kid had happened to you. Over the years her book inspired others and when they had come up to her to tell her how much they loved her book many people would often mistake it as their own because of how it resembled their life so much. But, not everyone felt the same, many people did not like her book because of how her book protested racism and