Aqeela El-Amin Bakheit wrote the following poem in 1992 to commemorate Black History Month, which is celebrated in February.

The poem, “Where is Mama?”, was published in “Wind In The Night Sky,” a publication of The National Library of Poetry in Owings Mills, Maryland in 1993.

Where Is Mama?

Mama! Where is mama? And papa too

Boys and girls just my size being patted on the head and kissed on the cheek

Babes, fair skinned, fine hair, being nursed by the “darker than blue”

Hurrying, scurrying little feet

Tiny hands holding books, chalk and slate

Close the door behind them now

Hard, cold bread, not enough to eat

Put on the sack

Out to the field in the blazing sun

Where is mama? Oh! If only she and papa would come

Work all day. Bone weary. Too tired to eat

Boys and girls just my size sitting on the great white porch

Reading to each other, talking things I don't know

The aroma in the air of apple pie

All the children get a slice

But none for me

These children, just my size, but different

Mama, where is mama? She belongs to another.