All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes by Maya Angelou, is the story of a Black American’s experience living in Africa.

“We wore skeletons of old despair like necklaces, heralding our arrival, and we were branded with cynicism…we carried the badge of a barbarous history” The books toys and challenges the idea of home and ancestral roots, and if they are synonymous.

Are Black Americans truly at home in America? Angelou asks this question during her tenure in Ghana. Angelou tells this story almost episodically, reflecting on different events that occurred during her stay in Ghana.

One of my favorite events was when she met Malcolm X. She is skilled in capturing her peers personality, especially Malcolm X’s charisma, cleverly describing him as, “America’s Molotov cocktail , thrown upon the White hope that all Black Americans would follow the nonviolent tenets of Dr. Martin Luther King.”

Although this is a short book, with Angelou’s beautiful prose and purposeful dialogue, this book felt rich, whole, and complete with a compelling final message.

Review Written By,

Sydney,  Age 15