Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

As the most famous work by Angelou, it’s worth referring readers of her poetry to her first and—by many accounts—best work. This reference is also valuable, since it’s in Caged Bird that Angelou discusses the circumstances that fostered her love for poetry.

Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

In Hurston’s landmark 1937 novel, Janie Crawford narrates her own coming of age as a Black woman in early-twentieth-century Florida. The particular challenges and frustrations Janie experiences as a Black woman help contextualize the kinds of stereotypes the speaker of “Still I Rise” is fighting against.

Alice Walker, The Color Purple

Alice Walker is well known for her advocacy in the field of Black feminism, particularly through her concept of “womanism.” Though The Color Purple doesn’t explicitly discuss womanism, it does concern the interconnected lives of a group of Black women and their struggles, particularly against ill treatment by Black men.

Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye

Like Hurston’s book, Morrison’s debut novel from 1970 powerfully exposes the unique pressures placed on Black women and girls.

Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery

Booker T. Washington’s 1901 autobiography narrates the author’s rise from a childhood of slavery to an influential man of letters. Washington’s book prefigures language about racial uplift, and Angelou’s poem no doubt references his trope of rising, even if only obliquely.