Gender and Racial Discrimination in Maya Angelou’s Caged Bird: A Lament on Slavery

The word “discrimination” is derived from the Latin word discriminate- meaning “to separate, to distinguish, to make a distinction.” In American English usage, discrimination often refers to prejudicial treatment of persons. Black feminism emerged as a challenge to the assumptions made by these white feminists regarding their prerogative to speak for all women in general. Black feminism insists that sexism and racism are imbricated in each other, the oppression of women cannot be understood and addressed without reference to racism. According to Claudia Jones, a Trinidad – born activist, “In the film, radio and press, the Negro woman is a not pictured in her real role as a bread winner, mother and protector of the family, but as a traditional ‘mammy' who puts the care of children and families of others above her own. This traditional stereotype of the Negro slave mother, which to this day appears in commercial advertisements must be combated and rejected as a device of imperialist to perpetuate that white chaunvist ideology that Negro women are ‘backward and inferior.' Now a days, there are so many poems which is written by using discrimination and segregation as the subject because of the condition which appears in the society. Besides, there are some women poets who write poems by using feminism touches. For example, the image of woman in the society, the position of women among the men, and the discriminations which occur in the women's life.