Thick Love

In our class discussion about Black Maternal Identity we discussed "thick love". Within "thick love" African-American mothers choose and are sometimes forced by circumstance to love their children without as much visible and tangible affection. This may or may not include the way that they talk to their children, the way that they participate with their children, and the way that they simply tell their children, "I love you". "thick love" is something that almost all black children experience at the hands of the oppression that their mothers and grandmothers have faced for generation upon generation. A very famous poem that I thought fit this theme is "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes in which the speaker, a Black mother explains her hardships and expectations for her son because of them.


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.