The book opens with an Introduction by the esteemed Maya Angelou. She helps readers to put the author into the proper context of her time and place. Then the book is structured in a simple series of chapters. These are arranged more in chronological than in topical order. These are relatively short. the shortest of these runs only seven pages long. he longest hover around the 20 page length mark. They are also rather numerous, totaling to 16, plus an Appendix. She has also included a Bibliography.