Page "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" Paragraph 2

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.

Because Angelou uses thematic development and other techniques common to fiction, reviewers often categorize Caged Bird as autobiographical 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.