Her life was never easy. From the time she was born, Maya Angelou
             was subjected to racism, rape, grief and dehumanization. She beared enough
             emotional stress in a time frame that most people don't experience in a
             lifetime. Yet she prevailed. She forced herself to become stronger. And in
             doing so, she produced writings, which in turn, helped others to become
             strong. Her experiences and the lessons learned gave her confidence to be a
             teacher, a preacher, and an inspiration to millions. Maya Angelou was
             courageous. Based on Angelou's most prestigious autobiography, I Know Why
             The Caged Bird Sings, along with others, certainly reveals the occurring
             hardships and misfortunes of her life.
             In Maya Angelou's first published autobiography, I Know Why The
             Caged Bird Sings, in 1970, she focuses in on the concept of black skin, and
             the emotions and fears that come along with it. Caged Bird begins, it opens
             with a symbolic presentation expressing Angelou's fears as a little girl being
             stared at in church by the whites in society who looked down on the people
             of colored skin. Further, Jon Zlotnik Schmidt of American Writers
             separates this introduction as one of the several, in which Maya Angelou
             feels abused because she is a black child, and sees herself as an outcast in
             all of society(American Writers IV 2). Throughout Caged Bird, Angelou
             remains displaced as being a racist in society. She is deserted and rejected
             by her mother, Vivian Baxter(Black Women Writers 5). In several of her
             related fantasies, Angelou, as a child imagines her mother lying in a coffin,
             dead with no face: "Since I couldn't fill in the features I printed
             M O T H E R across the O, and tears would fall down my cheeks like warm
             milk(American Writers 3)." As she grew up with no mother in her life, Maya
             Angelou was forced to become a mature adolescent at a young age(American
             I Know...