Wednesday
I didn’t watch the Senate hearing yesterday as Ketanji Brown Jackson faced questioning in her bid to become a Supreme Court justice, but I heard that someone—maybe Senator Cory Booker?—recited Langston Hughes’s “Mother to Son” at one point. I don’t have confirmation of this but, if it happened, it’s perfect for the occasion, given what a long and tortured journey Black women have gone through to get to this point. Jackson, if confirmed, will become the first African American woman to serve on the court.
In “Mother to Son,” a Black mother uses the extended metaphor of climbing an apartment complex stairwell to convey to her son what he can expect out of life—and how he should keep climbing, regardless of the difficulties he is sure to face. The poem is tough, tender, and inspirational all at once. It rings with the wisdom of someone who, despite having seen all that life can dish out, keeps going.
Mother to Son
By Langston Hughes
Well, son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been 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,
And reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
And sometimes goin’ in the dark
Where there ain’t been no light.
So boy, don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps
’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall now—
For I’se still goin’, honey,
I’se still climbin’,
And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
It’s been a long time coming, but sometimes one gets all the way to the top.