What does i know why the caged bird sings mean?

"I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" is an autobiography by Maya Angelou. She published it in1969.

The source of the title of the book is a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar entitled Sympathy. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," writes the poet. "When he beats his bars and he would be free. It is a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."