Angelou went from being a victim of racism and inferiority complex into self-awareness, develops a sense of self-identity, responds to racism with dignity, and shows the lives and identities of women in male dominated society. She says, "The black female is assaulted in her tender age by all those common forces of nature at the same time that she is caught in the tripartite crossfire of masculine prejudice, white illogical hate, and Black lack of power. ... Maya eventually broke the race barrier, became the first black streetcar operator in San Francisco, and assertively responded to her...

• Word Count: 649
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In anguish and uncertainty over the unfamiliar setting around him and his own lost identity, Shadrack begins to cry on a curbside and is picked up by the police and promptly booked for "vagrancy and intoxication," showing white society's destructive stereotyping and lack of concern for those outside of the norm (13). ... He stands in line for nearly a week hoping for the chance to work a masculine road building job, "real work" as he calls it, instead of the waiter position he currently holds (81). ... Eva says at one point that there never was any difference between the two, confirming...

• Word Count: 1501
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate