One of the most banned books of all time - Mollie Godfrey
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In 1998, a school district removed one of American literature’s most acclaimed works from its curriculum. Parents pushing for the ban said the book was both “sexually explicit” and “anti-white.” The book at the center of this debate was Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.” Why was the memoir so controversial? Mollie Godfrey digs into one of the most banned books of all time.
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To listen to Maya Angelou discuss some of the experiences she describes in her memoir in greater detail, you can listen to this long interview with Studs Terkel, recorded just one year after I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was first published. To hear Angelou describe the music, literature, and personal experiences that inspired her to write, listen to this 1986 interview with Terry Gross. In 1993, she sat down for an televised interview with her close friend and mentee, Oprah Winfrey; towards the end, Winfrey describes the ways in which reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings changed her life.
Many of the themes in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings are also prevalent in Angelou’s highly acclaimed poetry. To learn more about her inspirational 1978 poem, “Still I Rise,” check out this Learning for Justice lesson that guides you through the poem’s use of figurative language and imagery. Angelou is also well-known for delivering the inaugural poem at President Bill Clinton’s 1993 presidential inauguration. Follow along with this PBS Newshour lesson to hear Angelou reading the poem and to unpack the poem’s autobiographical elements. You can also learn more about how Maya Angelou has inspired others by listening to this radio program on the legacy of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, or by reading this New Yorker review of Angelou’s work as a memoirist. Do you want to learn how to write your own memoir just like Maya Angelou? Check out this TED Ed lesson to get started!
Efforts to include works like I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in school curricula are grounded in the work of Carter G. Woodson, the early 20th century Black historian who would become the man behind Black History Month. You can learn more here about how his work—alongside the demands of Civil Rights Movement activists and young students of color—led to the rise of the multiethnic and multicultural education movements in the 1960s and 1970s. You can also find out about recent programs to support diversity in young people’s literature at We Need Diverse Books and Diversity in YA.
To find out about other frequently banned and challenged books, check out the website of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF). You can dig into other works of literature that speak out against censorship in this TED Ed lesson on Ray Bradbury’s 1953 novel, Fahrenheit 451. Finally, don’t miss this interview with Toni Morrison about her 2009 edited collection of essays by fellow writers whose works have been frequently banned or challenged, called Burn This Book.
Many of the themes in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings are also prevalent in Angelou’s highly acclaimed poetry. To learn more about her inspirational 1978 poem, “Still I Rise,” check out this Learning for Justice lesson that guides you through the poem’s use of figurative language and imagery. Angelou is also well-known for delivering the inaugural poem at President Bill Clinton’s 1993 presidential inauguration. Follow along with this PBS Newshour lesson to hear Angelou reading the poem and to unpack the poem’s autobiographical elements. You can also learn more about how Maya Angelou has inspired others by listening to this radio program on the legacy of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, or by reading this New Yorker review of Angelou’s work as a memoirist. Do you want to learn how to write your own memoir just like Maya Angelou? Check out this TED Ed lesson to get started!
Efforts to include works like I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in school curricula are grounded in the work of Carter G. Woodson, the early 20th century Black historian who would become the man behind Black History Month. You can learn more here about how his work—alongside the demands of Civil Rights Movement activists and young students of color—led to the rise of the multiethnic and multicultural education movements in the 1960s and 1970s. You can also find out about recent programs to support diversity in young people’s literature at We Need Diverse Books and Diversity in YA.
To find out about other frequently banned and challenged books, check out the website of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF). You can dig into other works of literature that speak out against censorship in this TED Ed lesson on Ray Bradbury’s 1953 novel, Fahrenheit 451. Finally, don’t miss this interview with Toni Morrison about her 2009 edited collection of essays by fellow writers whose works have been frequently banned or challenged, called Burn This Book.
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