Journey consists of a series of short essays, often autobiographical, along with two poems, and has been called one of Angelou's "wisdom books".

[1] Journey was published during the period between her fifth and sixth autobiographies, All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986) and A Song Flung Up to Heaven (2002).

She had earlier published several volumes of poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie (1971).

[11] Angelou was one of the first African-American female writers to publicly discuss her personal life, and one of the first to use herself as a central character in her books.

[1] The book's title, comes from a lyric in the African American spiritual, "On My Journey Now," which Angelou called "a great song.

"Human beings are more alike than unalike" Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now consists of 24 "journalistic homilies"[3] or "meditations",[13] many of which are autobiographical, that range in number from 63 to a few hundred words.

Siona Carpenter of Religion News Service considered Journey as a part of the increase in popularity of motivational and inspirational books written by and for African Americans during the mid-1990s.

about her mother Vivian Baxter, who was one of the first Black females to join the merchant marine, and an untitled poem about the similarities between all people, despite their racial and cultural differences.

Anne Whitehouse of The New York Times wrote that the book would "appeal to readers in search of clear messages with easily digested meanings".