Mom & Me & Mom

Angelou’s mother, Vivian Baxter, is born Black and poor in St. Louis, Missouri, in the early 20th century, a difficult time for African American people in the South. Her father is an immigrant from Trinidad with a “dark chocolate complexion” (3). Her mother is of Irish ancestry but was adopted and raised by a German family. Vivian is one-eighth African American but has light-colored skin. She is the first of six children.

The Baxter family enjoys singing gospel songs. As the children grow, their father wants to harden them, urging them to fight and defend themselves but never to commit crimes. He expects his sons to be rough, but Vivian is the toughest. Her father calls her his “little girl-boy” (6).

Vivian meets Bailey Johnson, Angelou’s father, upon his return from World War I. He is a Southern Black man who is accustomed to violence and has to “stand up to threats” to be a man (7). He is a dietician, and Vivian’s parents do not approve of him. However, the pair marry and move to California, where Bailey Jr., Angelou’s brother, is born. Angelou is born two years later. However, Vivian and Bailey’s marriage soon falls apart, and neither can take care of the children. So, they send Angelou and Bailey to their paternal grandmother in Arkansas. The siblings arrive in Stamps alone by train.

Angelou and Bailey live with their grandmother until their early teenage years. Seven-year-old Angelou pays a short visit to her mother in St. Louis, where Vivian’s boyfriend sexually assaults her. He is later murdered, and she feels responsible for his death as she only mentioned the assault to her family. Her trauma makes her mute, and in the following years, she only talks to her brother. Angelou feels her voice has power and is “a killing machine” (8).

Angelou notes that it is dangerous for Bailey to live in the South as a young Black man. He has to keep his distance from white people. When the siblings’ grandmother decides they must return to California, Bailey is eager to return to his mother—however, Angelou wants to stay with her grandmother. She ultimately agrees to leave to protect her brother from racial violence in the South. 

Angelou travels to California with her grandmother; Bailey makes the trip a month later. Angelou is frightened to meet her mother, but at the train station, she finds her beautiful. Vivian embraces and kisses her. Angelou’s grandmother stays at Vivian’s house to ensure Angelou’s safety, and when she decides to leave, Angelou feels unhappy. Weeks after, Vivian asks Angelou to talk with her. Vivian understands her daughter disapproves of her because she differs from her grandmother. She calls Angelou her “beautiful daughter,” and Angelou realizes making people smile is a gift (16).

Angelou begins to appreciate Vivian but rarely talks to her and cannot call her “mother.” Vivian explains that despite leaving her and Bailey, she remains their mother. Angelou decides to call her “Lady.” Vivian accepts her will but says, “I am Lady, and still your mother” (17). Angelou expects her brother to arrive and decide if they should address Vivian as “Lady.”

Angelou expects Bailey at the train station, along with her mother and grandmother. When he arrives, Angelou notices he is happy to reunite with his mother like “a lost little boy who had been found” (19). She is heartbroken to see Bailey “forget” their abandonment. She wants to return to Arkansas with her grandmother while Bailey is focused on Vivian. Angelou expresses her disappointment in Bailey, but everyone asks why she would want to leave now that he is here. The family returns home without speaking.

Vivian asks Angelou to help Bailey set up his room. When alone, Bailey asks Angelou why she is miserable. She says she dislikes their mother and wonders why she left them. Bailey decides they must ask her directly, but Angelou hesitates. He calls Vivian “mother,” surprising Angelou. When the siblings ask about Vivian’s abandonment, she explains she and their father began to dislike each other soon after marriage. Despite trying to save their marriage, they fought constantly. She loves her children but knew she would not be a good mother at the time. Vivian admits that when Angelou was two, she asked for something and Vivian slapped her without thinking. Thus, she believed leaving her children with their grandmother would be the best choice.

Vivian informs Angelou and Bailey that she remarried a Clidell Jackson, saying he is a good man and hoping they can be a family. He is away for work and will soon return. When alone, Angelou and Bailey agree to meet Clidell before judging him.

They are introduced to their stepfather, and Angelou describes him as a “tall,” “wondrous,” and “very pleasant-looking man” (26). He knows card games and offers to teach them things. Clidell says nobody can exploit them if they work hard to get what they want. He wishes for the siblings to call him “Daddy Clidell” and states he loves Vivian. He promises to always protect them. Later, Bailey tells Angelou that he likes Clidell, but she distrusts him. He believes Clidell will not harm her and that he loves their mother.

Vivian and the children say goodbye to their grandmother at the train station. A saddened Angelou and Bailey decide to walk home. She starts feeling happy to be with her brother and Vivian, whom she is “beginning to like, and maybe to even love” (30). Vivian tells the children that Clidell is from Texas, knows how to read and write, and is a good gambler. She informs them that Papa Ford, the houseman, will cook and clean, but the children must clean their room and respect him—as a good reputation will help them achieve their goals. Angelou realizes she likes Vivian.

Before dinner, Vivian gathers the family and announces Angelou does not like to call her “mother” because she does not “fit her image of a mother” (32). She says she likes being called “Lady” and encourages everybody to call her “Lady Jackson.” Bailey also wants to be called by his name instead of “Junior,” as he is not a “child” anymore. Angelou smiles at her mother and cannot resist her.

Vivian informs Angelou that she has been released from prison without bail. Weeks later, Vivian has to pay to be released again. One day, she was with a friend who stole a can of coffee from the supermarket and would not return it. Vivian hit her, and both women were arrested. Returning home, she says she is not afraid of prisons but did not want to be imprisoned for a can of coffee.

Angelou notes that Bailey adores their mother but sometimes reveals his “angry personality,” showing Vivian that he remembers her abandonment. Likewise, Vivian appreciates her daughter’s honesty. She trusts Angelou with a key to a closet where she keeps money and alcohol. One day, some of the women who work at Vivian’s “gambling casinos” visit her, and Vivian announces somebody is stealing her whiskey. She asks Angelou if she has been drinking it, and she denies it. However, she admits she has been selling some of it outside a movie theater. Vivian chastises her, and she feels embarrassed. Vivian attempts to slap her, and Angelou goes to her room. She talks to Bailey, and he also says her act was risky. She cries but decides to apologize to her mother. Angelou goes to Vivian’s room and apologizes, which Vivian accepts. They embrace, and Angelou notes that in families, being right or wrong can be relative.