I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 5 April 2019
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Maya Angelou's iconic first memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was published in spring 1969. The book was an instant best-seller, and was one of the first literary accounts of growing up as a black girl in the southern states of America, including graphic depictions of rape and racism. Louise Hidalgo talks to Maya Angelou's friend and biographer, former magazine editor, Marcia Gillespie, about the book and how it helped to establish Maya Angelou as one of the great voices of her generation.
Picture: Maya Angelou holding a copy of her memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, in 1971 (Credit: BBC/WF/AP/Corbis)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC |
| 0:35.4 | Sounds. |
| 0:38.4 | Choosing what to watch. |
| 0:39.4 | Night after night. |
| 0:41.1 | The flicking through. The endless searching is a nightmare. We want to help you. On our |
| 0:46.7 | brand new podcast off the telly we share what we've been watching. |
| 0:50.3 | Cladie aider. Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming, lovely. |
| 0:55.0 | Off the telly with me Joanna Paige and me, Natalie Cassidy, |
| 0:59.0 | so your evenings can be a little less searching |
| 1:02.0 | and a lot more watching. |
| 1:03.4 | Listen on BBC Sounds. Now witness history with me Louis Adagalgo. Today I'm taking you back to |
| 1:15.0 | spring 1969 and the publication of a claimed writer Maya Angelou's iconic memoir |
| 1:20.6 | I know why the Cage Bird sings. Published at the tail end of the American Civil |
| 1:25.3 | Rights Movement, the book was a literary account of growing up as a black girl in |
| 1:29.3 | 1930s America and was an instant bestseller. I've been talking to Maya Angelou's |
| 1:34.5 | friend and biographer former magazine editor Marsha Gillespie about how Cage Bird |
| 1:39.3 | established Maya Angelou as one of the great voices of her generation. |
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