Angelou sets the tone of the autobiography with a three-page vignette preceding the first chapter. She describes herself as a young child standing before a congregation in a church and reciting an Easter poem. She forgets her lines, becomes nervous, and flees the church. Angelou's flight from a traditional sanctuary, where she has found only discomfort, will be one of many flights.

In 1931, when Marguerite and Bailey Johnson began their moves, she was three and he was four. Their parents, on the verge of divorce, sent the children by train from Long Beach,

Although the sketches and the chronology hold I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings together, the strong, life-affirming voice of the author also unifies the autobiography. Just as the book begins with a child, reciting a half-remembered Easter poem, it ends with a child. Angelou, just out of high school, lies in her bed, snuggled close to her three-week-old infant.

My race groaned. It was our people falling. It was another lynching, yet another Black man hanging on a tree. One more woman ambushed and raped. A Black boy whipped and maimed. It was hounds on the trail of a man running through slimy swamps. It was a white woman slapping her maid for being forgetful.

Despite the transience of her childhood, Angelou brings a coherence to her autobiography by organizing it into a series of sketches and narratives. Some of the sketches will make readers laugh, such as the description of the revival at which Sister Monroe, in her religious zeal, attacked Reverend Thomas and knocked out his false te

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 670
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)