In Maya Angelou's poem "Caged bird" the implied meaning of the words used are:
1- Caged bird - African American
Angelou compares African-Americans to caged birds because, even when they were stripped from their freedom, they still singed, longing for what they had not known, fighting for their rights.
2- Free bird - White American
The free birds are compared to the White Americans because they had no care in the world, and dared to call "the sky their own", meaning that they appropiated something as inherent to human being as other's freedom.
3- Self-expresion - Sing
Singinig was a way African-Americans used to expressed themselves even when they were enslaved and had no rights. It was their way of verbalizing their stories and feelings, the only thing white americans could not take away from them.
4- Sky - Freedom
In the poem, the line that says that free birds "dare to claim the sky" refers to white people robbing African-Americans from their freedom. The sky is something that everyone should be able to see and enjoy, as is freedom But, by claiming it, the free birds are not permiting other birds to fly on it.
5- Cage - Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. This segregation became the African-Americans cage, since it did not allow them to excercise they rights freely.
