Caged Bird Banning

“I’m always sorry that people ban my books. Many times I’ve been called the most banned,” Maya Angelou, the author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings lamented. Her books are frequently “challenged” in school libraries across the nation. What makes a banned book? In 1982, the supreme court made a ruling declaring the banning of books for their questionable content to be unconstitutional. This ruling was called the Island Trees Board of Education v. Pico. The board demanded the right to remove any book, “Anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Sematic, and just plain filthy,” From their high school and junior high libraries. Obviously, this created an uproar across the United States. What is America without freedom of speech? Would it become like
Her autobiography starts in the small town of Stamps Arkansas. Maya recalls her youthful escapades with her brother Bailey in their Grandmother’s store. Their Grandmother was a harsh woman, who scrubbed them clean every Sunday (much to the children’s dismay). She recounts her first fearful encounters with racism and sex. Later, Maya moves to California with her beautiful mother. Her mother is a graceful dancer who likes to say that she, “Hopes for the best, prepares for the worst, and is unsurprised by anything in between.” It is by her Mother’s boyfriend that Maya is sexually abused and raped. Although she tells the story in an unattached fashion, it is clear that the incident affected her entire life. She returns to her Grandmother’s home for a few years and begins to develop into an avid reader. For a summer, Maya lives with her father and his spiteful girlfriend. She moves out into a junkyard and becomes a free-dancing, confident girl. From the Junkyard on, Maya is sure of herself in a way that she never was before. The book ends in Maya’s pregnancy. She gives birth at just sixteen years of age. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is primarily a coming of age story. Through the book, Maya finds herself and develops into the poetic thinker and writer we know of
The sexual topics that it covers are better left to the caring hands of parents. It is not the public school system’s job to educate a child on every aspect of life. Therefore, the autobiography in question should be held in a special place in elementary schools and middle schools that can be accessed with parent permission. The book itself should not be included into school curriculum until a high school level. The high school level and on is a time where teenagers begin to form opinions of their own. Strong literature can help to strengthen those opinions and broaden minds. Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a beautiful and poetic look into topics such as racism and identity. It is a book that institutes “baptism by fire” or a complete wiping of all preconceived notions about love and family. It is a cruel book, but the world is cruel