A scattering of small shops and houses lined the main street of the white part of town. In the black section, a dirt road led to the Wm. Johnson General Merchandise Store where slave-like field workers passed through to buy supplies each day.

             The owner of the Store, "it was always spoken of with a capital s," (Angelou, Caged Bird 4) was Mrs. Annie Henderson, who had found herself more than twenty-five years earlier with two small babies to feed after the breakup of her first marriage. She set up a small wooden stand between the old cotton mill and the lumber mill and there she sold crisp homemade meat pies and cool lemonade for a nickel each. In time, Annie Henderson"s long hours of hard work paid off, and the tiny lunch stand grew into the Store that bore the name of her crippled son, Willie. It was here that she first took in her other son Bailey"s children, Marguerite and Bailey Johnson Jr.

             Soon after their arrival in Stamps, the two children settled into Annie"s routine. Time passed quickly as they went about their chores, and it was not long before a close bond of security, warmth, and love developed among Maya (her brother"s name for her), Bailey, and the woman they had begun to call Momma.

             From early on, the montage of role models in Maya"s life significantly influences her growth and emotional well being. She relies on the stiff, unyielding sanctimony and firm discipline of Momma Henderson, who insists on clean feet, respectful words, unquestioning obedience, and hard work. Unable to voice her love and devotion to Maya and Bailey, Momma settles for wholehearted attention to their needs, including home cooking, homilies, dental care, supervised homework, and tailored hand-me-downs. .

             Uncle Willie, after being dropped by a babysitter when he was three years old, suffered with a withered left hand and distortion of muscles that pulled down the left side of his face. Under the strict guidance of Momma and Uncle Willie, Maya and her brother became admirable students and excelled in school.