I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

In St. Louis, Maya and Bailey live with Grandmother Baxter and Grandfather Baxter. The grandmother was raised by a German family in Illinois and is "nearly white" (61), while the grandfather is Black. In the 1930s, the Black section of St. Louis has all characteristics of a gold-rush town, and gambling and drinking were common despite the official rules that prohibited them.

As a precinct captain, Grandmother Baxter has significant power in the town, and her white skin, as well as her "six mean children" (62), further cement her influence in the community. Not only gamblers and crooks, but also police officers often come to her house in need of a favor, and she helps them in exchange for votes.

After the modesty of their life in Stamps, Maya and Bailey enjoy the new foods and experiences of St. Louis. However, they don't like their school because they are much ahead of their classmates, and the teachers are not nearly as warm as in Stamps. Their mother, Vivian, doesn't spend much time at home, and sometimes the siblings visit the tavern where she works as a dancer. There, Vivian would dance alone for her children, and Maya realizes that she "loved her most at those times" (65).