In the early 1930s, at a time when segregation was still a problem in the United States, it was especially difficult for a young African-American girl who was trying to grow up and become an independent woman. During this time, many young girls like Maya Angelou grew up wishing they were a white woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. But that was only the beginning of Angelou's problems. In the autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou describes in depth her tragic childhood, going from moving around different homes, to running away and having a child at the age of 16. This shows how Maya overcame many struggles. as a young girl. At a young age, Maya Angelou's parents divorced. Once the divorce was final, Maya and her older brother, Bailey, were sent to live with their grandmother. Angelou's not-so-perfect life began when she was a young girl. “When she was about three years old, their parents divorced and the children were sent to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. Angelou claims that her grandmother, whom she called "Mom, had a deep love that touched everything she touched" (Burt). In the first chapter of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the book begins with Angelou talking about her parents' divorce. “Our parents decided to end their disastrous marriage and our father sent us back to his mother” (Angelou 5). After living with her grandmother, or as Maya begins to call her "mom", Maya Angelou and her brother Bailey are sent away for 4 years to St. Louis Missouri. In St. Louis, they lived with her mother and her boyfriend, Mr. Freeman. Mr. Freeman has a huge impact on young Maya's life. When she was only 8 years old, he raped her, after being raped, Angelou becomes mute and goes...... middle of paper ......st.com/lrc/detail?vid= 26&sid=29d72aba - Hanford, Mary. Maya Angelou. New Jersey: Salem, 2006. Literary Reference Center. Internet. April 8, 2014. .I know why the caged bird sings. New York: Maya Angelou, 2009. Print.Walker, Pierre A. Racial protest, identity, words and form in Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Flight. 22. West Chester: Collage Literature and Literary Reference Center. Internet. April 8. 2014. .