In my lifetime of reading, how have I avoided reading Maya Angelou? I have NO idea. But, I'm "IN" for good now because this book is amazing. I grew up in the times she is describing in this book, but my world was the "white" one, with all it inherent privileges. Hers is an eye-opener! My image of Maya Angelou is that regal black woman reading the poem at Clinton's inauguration in that strong, commanding voice. I can hear her still. But, I had no idea that she was a song writer, a producer, a newspaper woman, a dancer, a mother, the wife of a South African freedom fighter (living in Cairo). I'm told that I started in the middle of her life and now I have to go back and read from the beginning with "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." OK - here I go. I can't wait. If you haven't read Maya Angelou's life stories (I think there are 5 autobiographical books), get going. Don't put them off as long as I have. You'll thank me.

she has lived such a remarkable life and has it chronicled such detail! she must have journaled fastidiously. was very interesting to read about the politics of the 60s in america/africa. oh and i love how sex positive she was

When Maya Angelou speaks, I listen. When she writes, at least in this example, I was tired of listening. Much of this part of her autobiography seems to excuse her bad choices, therefore explaining why the consequences are not her fault. I don't want to know how her life turns out in the next book, but I was really glad to be done with this part of it. I will return to listening now.

I've now read three in Angelou's series of memoirs, having picked them up as I've come across them in second hand shops or elsewhere. I've enjoyed them all and this one is really good, spanning the time she left Los Angeles and went to New York, hooking up with the Harlem Writers Guild, and working for the SCLC on behalf of social justice and fundraising for Reverend ML King. She was actually ready to settle down to housewifely duties and about to marry a bail bondsman in Brooklyn with whom she had nothing in common and no conversation to speak of, when fate intervened and she relocated to Africa, Cairo first and then Ghana.

What I find wonderful is how frank she is about her sex life (not explicit, mind you, just honest about how much she loved it), and her thoughtfulness of being a single mom to an adolescent son. It's really moving to get her perspective as a black mother to a black son, and the contrast she got to make when they left the US and went to Africa, especially in regards to policing, but also in the schools and on the streets.

Famous names (and the people attached to them) that make appearances in this volume include Billie Holliday, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, of course Rev. King, Oliver Tambo, Roscoe Lee Browne and Cicely Tyson (and several other cast members when she was Queen White in The Blacks by Jean Genet Off-Broadway in 1961). And I just love her mother whenever she shows up on the page, either as a presence or just a mental nudge reminding her daughter how to act or be in the world when it was trying to put her down. What a strong woman and model she was for Maya.