| During their growing up years, children struggle to | | | | common with minority children, they spent most |
| find their personal place in society. It is difficult for | | | | of their childhood living with their grandparents. |
| children to find their place when they are given | | | | Both women also experienced oppression by their |
| numerous advantages, but when a child is | | | | parents and grandparents, who were the first |
| oppressed by their parents or grandparents, | | | | contact with other people that children have. Even |
| males in their life, and the dominant culture, the | | | | though Mary's mother and grandmother spoke |
| road to achieving self-identity is fraught with | | | | the Lakota language, they refused to teach it to |
| enormous obstacles to overcome. Maya Angelou's | | | | Mary. They told her that "speaking Indian would |
| I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings and Mary | | | | only hold you back, turn you the wrong way" |
| Crow Dog's Lakota Woman depict the two | | | | (Crow Dog 22). They wanted Mary to have a |
| women's "triumph over formidable social obstacles | | | | "white man's education" (Crow Dog 22). |
| and [their] struggle to achieve a sense of identity | | | | In contrast, Maya was denied a white man's |
| and self-acceptance" (Draper 1). | | | | education, not only by the dominant culture but |
| Both women grew up in segregated societies: | | | | also by her grandmother. Maya attended the |
| Mary Crow Dog on the Rosebud Sioux Indian | | | | Lafayette County Training School, which was the |
| Reservation in South Dakota, and Maya Angelou in | | | | school for blacks. In addition, Maya's grandmother |
| the black community of Stamps, Arkansas. As is | | | | forbade her from reading books by white authors. |