Well, son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t no crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—Bare.
But all the time
I’se been a-climbin’ on.

–From “Mother to Son.” By Langston Hughes.

From the beginning of “Mother to Son” Please read on, “The Weary Blues”, “Dream Variation”, “Daybreak in Alabama”, and “I, Too”.  From these glorious poems it is easy for us to see why Langston Hughes is so beloved and admired.

As is Phoebe Beasley, the painter chosen by Dr. Maya Angelou to illustrate these poems with her six colorful silkscreen prints.  Phoebe Beasley is the only artist whose work has twice been awarded the Presidential Seal (Bush and Clinton).  Her silkscreen prints express “the love and humor that come out of Black family life” in compositions that range from “wit to subtle beauty and tenderness, at times, reflecting the influence of Picasso, Lawrence and Bearden.”  Dr. Angelou not only selected the poems and the artist, she also wrote the illuminating Introduction and the Afterword!

The binding is purple cotton and the book and prints come a hinged and lined black cotton covered box.