From gritty memoir to evocative fiction, these stories offer powerful lessons about race in America.
“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou (Ballantine, 304 pp.) is Maya Angelou’s compelling coming-of-age account of life as a black female during the Depression. Remembering a perpetual longing to feel beautiful and loved, Angelou writes of being disappointed by society and her own family – but ultimately infuses her memoir with a sense of triumph.
