<P> I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a 1969 autobiography about the early years of American writer and poet Maya Angelou . The first in a seven - volume series, it is a coming - of - age story that illustrates how strength of character and a love of literature can help overcome racism and trauma . The book begins when three - year - old Maya and her older brother are sent to Stamps, Arkansas, to live with their grandmother and ends when Maya becomes a mother at the age of 16 . In the course of Caged Bird, Maya transforms from a victim of racism with an inferiority complex into a self - possessed, dignified young woman capable of responding to prejudice . </P> <P> Angelou was challenged by her friend, author James Baldwin, and her editor, Robert Loomis, to write an autobiography that was also a piece of literature . Reviewers often categorize Caged Bird as autobiographical fiction because Angelou uses thematic development and other techniques common to fiction, but the prevailing critical view characterizes it as an autobiography, a genre she attempts to critique, change, and expand . The book covers topics common to autobiographies written by Black American women in the years following the Civil Rights Movement: a celebration of Black motherhood; a critique of racism; the importance of family; and the quest for independence, personal dignity, and self - definition . </P>

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