Why does the Caged Bird Sing?

I am reading the novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. It's a book about Maya Angelo and the experiences she had when she was young. During her childhood she was sent to live with her grandma and uncle. All the years that Maya and her brother, Bailey, lived with them they thought that their parents had died. Then one christmas they recieved presents from their parent's. After going to live with their mother Maya gets raped by her mother's boyfriend and has to tell who did it to her. Maya was made to testify in court and said that Mr. Freeman hadn't done anything. Then Maya finds out Mr. Freeman has been killed. She is terrified and gets the idea that anybody else that she talks to might be harmed. Maya decides that she can't talk to anyone but Bailey.

Maya stays "mute" for awhile, until a black woman teacher that is very educated, and that Maya looks up to, puts a new concept into her head. When she's about 12 or 13 Maya goes to work for a rich white women. The women doesn't call her by her real name because it's too long. Instead the women decides to call her Mary. This offends Maya and she does a very nasty thing to get fired from the job.

I just now starting chapter 18 and these are the experiences that i think really affected her. Is there other ones that are important that I missed?  

How do you think these experiences she had shaped or "made" her the person she is today?