Author

Background

Maya Angelou (originally named Marguerite Johnson) was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928. She grew up in St. Louis and later, Stamps, Arkansas. She was an author, poet, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen producer, director and civil rights activist. Angelou also carries the title of being the first black woman director in Hollywood. (Horsley).

This book deserves to be read because it tells important truths. Given, these truths aren’t easily digestible for the hegemony, but that’s what makes them so important. It’s not only necessary to acknowledge the circumstances that growing up as a minority meant in those days, but to recognize that many of those circumstances remain still yet in today’s society. While true, there are laws in place to prevent the racial segregation of Angelou’s childhood, racial bias is still very much prominent in American culture. To neglect the struggles that young black women had to face, and are still facing would be a gross misuse of privilege by those who have been blessed with it. 

Why The Book

Deserves to

Be Read

The book was banned on account of the graphic descriptions of rape and abuse that Angelou experienced as a child. Many parents and educators do not realize the dangers that hiding these ugly truths can pose for American children. Exposure to the reality that things like this are more common than society would have them believe, promotes sensitivity and understanding toward these topics among adolescents. It is also important for people to realize the normality of these circumstances so that in the possibility of which they are forced to face them themselves, they are met with sincerity and understanding, rather than distrust and skepticism because “that stuff doesn’t happen here/anymore”.

Why the Book is

Banned