A Song Flung Up to Heaven was published by Random House in 2002. The sixth and final volume of Angelou’s autobiographical series covers 1965-1968: her return to America from Ghana, the assassination of Malcolm X (days after her return), her work in the civil rights movement, the Watts riots, her relationship with James Baldwin, and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The book ends with Angelou sitting down to write I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings — the autobiographical cycle closes by arriving at its own beginning.
The volume is shaped by loss: Malcolm’s death, King’s death, the apparent defeat of the optimistic phase of the civil rights movement, and the personal losses that accompanied these political catastrophes. Angelou writes about grief — her own and her community’s — with the controlled intensity of her mature style. The passage describing her reaction to King’s assassination is among the most powerful in all her work.
The book’s circular structure (ending where the first autobiography begins) gives the entire six-volume sequence the quality of a complete artistic statement — not merely a life narrated but a life shaped into literary form. Angelou implies that writing itself was the act that saved her: transforming raw experience into art was what allowed her to survive the losses this volume chronicles.
Collecting A Song Flung Up to Heaven
First edition (Random House, New York, 2002): Cloth with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $15–$40
- Signed: $50–$125
Projected values (2026–2036): Modest appreciation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the sixth autobiography about? A Song Flung Up to Heaven (2002) covers Angelou’s return to the United States from Africa in 1965 and the turbulent years that followed — the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. (she was friends with both), her work as a journalist, and the events that led her to write I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The book ends where the first autobiography begins, completing a circle.
How many autobiographies did Angelou write? Seven in total: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), Gather Together in My Name (1974), Singin’ and Swingin’ (1976), The Heart of a Woman (1981), All God’s Children (1986), A Song Flung Up to Heaven (2002), and Mom & Me & Mom (2013).