I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

An eighth-grader, Maya is preparing to graduate from Lafayette County Training School. As the academic year draws to an end and the graduation approaches, Momma sews a dress that Maya will wear for the event. Since Bailey had graduated the year prior, Maya feels like "the person of the moment" (171) because both the grade-school and the high-school graduation ceremonies are considered significant events in the Stamps community. Maya is proud of her academic work being "among the best of the year" (172) and looks forward to receiving her diploma. On the morning of the ceremony, Bailey gives Maya a leather-bound copy of Edgar Allan Poe poems as a graduation present, and Momma makes a special celebratory breakfast.

In her perfectly fitted dress, Maya looks "like a sunbeam" (176), but as she enters the schoolyard, she has a sense of foreboding. The ceremony opens with the American national anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance, and the school principal asks everyone to take their seats. The graduating pupils are confused because, according to the rehearsed schedule, they were supposed to sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the song they refer to as the Negro National Anthem. Maya senses that something is amiss with the ceremony, and her apprehension grows when the principal announces the guest speaker, Mr. Edward Donleavy, a white politician.

Hardly taking his eyes off his script, Mr. Donleavy talks about numerous improvements that will come to the Central School, the white school in Stamps, such as the new microscopes and chemistry equipment. Lafayette County Training School, by contrast, will receive new equipment for home economics and a paved playing field. Mr. Donleavy emphasizes his role in bringing these improvements to the local community and makes a quick exit. After his speech, Maya's elation turns into despair, and around her, "the proud graduating class of 1940 had dropped their heads" (180). But when the time comes for a class valedictorian, Henry Reed, to give his speech, he leads the Black audience in singing "Lift Every Voice and Sing.” The song revives everyone's spirits, and for the first time, Maya pays close attention to its meaning and acknowledges its power. By the time they finish singing, she once again feels proud of her heritage and hopeful about her future. 

Maya has two painful cavities in her teeth, but in Stamps, there are no dentists who treat Black people, and they would have to go all the way to Texarkana for an appointment with a Black doctor. Thus, Momma decides to take her granddaughter to Dr. Lincoln, a white doctor in Stamps, to whom she had loaned money during the Great Depression. When they arrive at his door, Momma asks his assistant to tell Dr. Lincoln that Annie is here, but the woman only gives them a scornful look before disappearing inside. Although Maya is in terrible pain, she and Momma wait for over an hour for the dentist to come out, only to tell them that he doesn't treat "colored people" (188). Momma reminds the doctor how she had helped him during the Depression, but he insists that he had paid back the loan.

Despite Momma's pleas, Dr. Lincoln refuses to treat Maya and shuts the door. After a few minutes of consideration, Momma tells Maya to wait for her outside while she disappears into the building. Maya fantasizes that Momma enters the dentist's office and puts him in his place, acting fiercely and fearlessly. When Momma comes back outside, she tells Maya that they are going to the Black dentist in Texarkana. After the treatment, Maya feels much better, and once they get home, Momma tells Uncle Willie what she really said to Dr. Lincoln in his office. She told him that he still hasn't paid his interest on the loan he had taken out. It was her way of having him pay for mistreating them because, initially, there was no interest on the loan. Overhearing their conversation, Maya admits to herself that she prefers her version of Momma's interaction with Dr. Lincoln.