The main theme of Angelou's "Still I Rise" is the promise of triumph of African-Americans over slavery and racism. The author contrasts the history of racism and brutality to her race and the determination to overcome this wretched treatment.
She says we can trod upon her "in the very dirt" (line 3), but "like dust" (line 4), she will rise. She says we can shoot her, cut her, kill her "with hatefulness" (line 23), but she will, "like air" (line 24), rise again.
The entire history of the American treatment of African-Americans, from slavery to Jim Crow laws, from physical mistreatment to the prejudice reflected in the expressions of white people, is depicted in the poem. But the constant refrain, "I'll rise" (line 4), is a promise to America that none of this will stop African-Americans in their quest for equality, happiness, and success.
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