Slavery and Segregation: America's Unfortunate History

Long before America became land of the free and home of the brave, there were various unfortunate events in history that were occurring, like segregation and slavery. Slavery commenced in the North where the African Americans worked cheap labor by manufacturing, picking cotton, brickmaking, and virtually any other form of manual labor. As years passed, slavery was deemed as a social evil. Similarly, segregation was becoming socially unacceptable. Segregation separated the colored people and whites in as many aspects of life possible, namely daily activities like eating at restaurants, utilizing public water fountains and restrooms, and attending school. Consequently, due to the afflictions the African Americans were living, numerous of them

protested for what they longed for, freedom and equality. Maya Angelou and Paul Laurence Dunbar both felt the oppression and injustice of the cruelty on the colored, so they expressed themselves through poetry. In Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem, “Sympathy,” and Maya Angelou’s poem, “Caged Bird,” they show the yearns for independence and liberty. This is manifested through the similarities and the differences of the poems as they write about a caged bird.
Body Paragraph #1: Throughout both poems, Maya Angelou and Paul Laurence Dunbar metaphorically compare a caged bird to an African American who longs for freedom. In the poem, “Sympathy,” Dunbar writes how the caged bird sang with its heart full of fear and hope for freedom. Dunbar states: “It is not a carol of joy or glee/ But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core/ But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings-/ I know why the caged bird sings (Lines 18-21).” This quote demonstrates how the bird is not singing because it is rejoicing, in contrast, it is singing because it is manifesting lament and hope that it will be set free. This is symbolic to the African Americans and how they were very hopeful in their adversities. Similarly, in Angelou’s poem, “Caged Bird,” the caged bird sang with a fearful heart longing to be independent, just like the free bird who has luxuriated in nature’s beauty. Angelou states: “But a caged bird that stands on the grave of dreams… The caged bird sings/ with a fearful trill of things unknown/ but longed for still… for the caged bird/ sings of freedom (Lines 24, 28-31, 34, 35).” The author uses this quote to prove how the caged bird is evidently oppressed and living in fear. Just like the caged bird, African Americans were living in fear of what would happen to them. However, as a community, they all managed to persevere and protest for a scintillating future for following generations of their race. In addition to singing for freedom, the birds in both poems coveted the things a free bird had. They yearned for a life they knew they would not live in their lifetime, subsequently leading to them feeling trapped in their bodies. Maya Angelou writes: “The free bird leaps/ on the back of the wind/ and floats downstream/ till the current ends/ and dips his winds… But a bird that stalks/ down his narrow cage/ can seldom see through/ his bars of rage (Lines 1-5, 8-10).” Considering the dreams of the caged bird in its perspective, likewise, the African Americans desired to live a life like the whites. Due to the fact that being colored automatically separated the African Americans, they felt trapped in their own bodies. They felt helpless and, at some point, angry at themselves. Given these points, both poems manifested the equality and independence the African Americans hankered by comparing them to a caged bird who sings for freedom and dreams of liberty.
Body Paragraph #2: While both poems, “Ssympathy,” and, “Caged Bird,” are very similar, they differ in how the author relates to the caged bird.

In Dunbar’s poem, “Sympathy,” Dunbar repetitively states how he knows how the caged bird feels. He is able to associate his life experiences with the caged bird, who is suffering and wishes to be autonomous. This is shown when Dunbar states: “I know what the caged bird beats his wing… I know why the caged bird sings (Lines 1,8,15).” Evidently, Dunbar sympathizes with the bird’s emotions and desires to be free. Dunbar pity’s the caged bird instead of writing about how it would be like to be free. The quote shows how Dunbar is aware and can relate to what the bird does. On the contrary, in the poem “Caged Bird,” Angelou writes about the comparison between the caged and free bird. The way Angelou writes about both birds lifestyle is a manifestation of her views of her trials. Maya Angelou states: “The free bird thinks of another breeze/ and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees… But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams… his wings are clipped and his feet are tied (Lines 20,21,24,26).” In this quote the author writes how she was feeling imprisoned due to the racial issues between the whites and African Americans. Just like the caged bird, ANgelou relates to it because she too feared to speak her mind without being punished. Moreover, in “Sympathy,” Dunbar relates his segregation issues and lack of freedom to the caged bird

as he writes about the caged bird being oppressed. Dunbar writes, “I know why the caged bird beats his wing/ Till its blood is red on the cruel bars (Lines 8,9).” The quote manifests the maltreatment of the bird, similarly, Dunbar was mistreated as an African American. This quote relates to his life because, due to racism, Dunbar had to go through many many unjust trials that lead him to feel like a caged bird, which is a metaphor to his own oppression. All in all, both Dunbar and Angelou wrote similar poems, however both poems have their different backstories and were influenced differently.
Body Paragraph #3: Furthermore, scrutinizing both poems, “Sympathy,” written by Paul Laurence, manages to have sentimental value to me due to the fact that the poem conveys the theme of perseverance.

In Dunbar’s poem, “Sympathy,” the caged bird attempts to free itself but the only outcome is pain. However, the caged bird never hesitated to try again and fly back to its peach. It is written: “I know why the caged bird beats his wing/ Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;/ For he must fly back to his perch and cling/ When he fain would be on the bough a -swing;/ And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars (Lines 8-12).” To begin with, this quote manifests the eagerness of the bird to free itself. Comparatively, the African Americans were craving freedom. However, just like the caged bird, the African Americans suffered. For one thing, they suffered emotionally from not being socially accepted, but they also suffered physically. At last, in the poem, the caged bird gives a prayer of hope from deep inside itself. After all he could do, after all his misfortune and physical damages, the bird still pleas. Dunbar writes:: “When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore-/ When he beats his bars and he would be free/ It is not a carol of joy or glee/ But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core/ But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings (Lines 16-20).” Considering the quote, it shows how the caged bird was beat up past its limits. This shows how African Americans endured

through lots of sufferings in their life and tolerated it because they were humbled for a better future. They “prayed” and “pleaded” for things they knew were impossible to posses in their times. They persevered and never stopped trying to be free, just like the caged bird. On the whole, the poem, “Sympathy,” written by Paul Laurence Dunbar conveys wonderful values and is a poem filled with sentimental value.
Conclusion: Perhaps most noticeably important of all, in the poems, “Sympathy,” and , “Caged Bird,” written by Maya Angelou, the caged birds are symbolic to the African Americans and their long for freedom as both poems reveal this by the similarities and differences between them. Throughout the poems, they both metaphorically compare the caged bird to the lives of the African Americans lived during the time period of segregation. This includes feelings of oppression and yearns for freedom, just like the caged bird felt. However, the poems differ in the way the author relates to bird. The authors both lived a different life that influenced their writing. In the course of their lifetime, they overcame tribulations, heartache, physical and emotional pain, which all came from being segregated. The caged birds were symbolic to the emotions the authors felt in their generatio.