Angelou begins the letter with “Dear Daughter,” dedicating this work to the daughter she never had but whom she sees in women everywhere. She states that this letter includes lessons she has learned and the ways in which she learned them. Angelou states that she intends this work to act as a starting point for the reader—a document that they can reference and use at their discretion. She ends with the sentiment, “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them” (5). Over the course of the letter, Angelou will show how numerous life events have shaped and strengthened her.

Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri but was raised by her paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson, and her uncle, Willie, in Stamps, Arkansas. She recalls her experience growing up in the racially segregated town, writing:

My real growing up world, in Stamps, was a continual struggle against a condition of surrender. Surrender first to the grown-up human beings who I saw every day, all black and all very, very large. Then submission to the idea that black people were inferior to white people, who I saw rarely (6).