Maya Angelou is one of the most famous African American poets. “Dr. Angelou’s words and actions continue to stir our souls, energize our bodies, free our minds, and heal our hearts.” (http://mayaangelou.com/bio/) She was born on April 4, 1928, in South St. Louis, Missouri. It was during this time that racism was most prevalent. It was over though, segregation was still a huge ongoing series. Maya Angelou was greatly influenced by the civil rights movement. The civil rights movement was a movement in the United States that aimed to end segregation and discrimination against African Americans or black people and give them their right to vote. I believe Maya Angelou's writing became more positive after the civil rights movement happened, she had an inspiration and hope that black people would succeed in trying to get them to become more civilized. Maya Angelou's writing career began during the late 1950s, around the same time that the civil rights movement began to take hold. Maya is known for one of her most famous poems, I Know Why The Cage Birds Sing. This poem is basically about the birds in the cage being African American/Black, where they have no freedom. “The free bird jumps on the back of the wind/and floats downstream until the current ends/And dips its wings in the orange rays of the sun and dares to conquer the sky.”(Angelou, 1-3) At the beginning , from this The poem Maya Angelou uses the free bird to refer to white people because they have all the rights and black people are stuck in "the cage" with no rights or freedom. Furthermore, it could have a more positive aspect, meaning that the free bird is the dream of black Americans come true. Afterwards, being in the middle of a paper...flowery eyes?"(13-14) Here, she asks them questions as if she cares. Now that blacks are starting to be approved over whites this upset to no longer be able to control African Americans, or make them feel pain and surf. Overall, Maya Angelou's poems have become more inspiring as the years have gone by and African Americans have gained the rights that they have. they deserved. and a lot of emotion through her poems, as if one could feel the pain they had endured. Her poems contained a lot of hope during the civil rights movement, you can. feel how this poem went from negative moments to positive She talked about the American dream of giving rights to black people before the movement they had no hope but as the poem goes on you can feel a vibe of. more positive hope..