''In the first decade of the twentieth century, it was not a good time to be born black, or woman, in America.'' So begins this stunning portrait of Vivian Baxter Johnson: the first black woman officer in the Merchant Marines, purveyor of a gambling business and rooming house, and mother to Maya Angelou, beloved and bestselling author of I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS.''A brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman'' BARACK OBAMAAnyone who''s read the classic, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, knows Maya Angelou was raised by her paternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. In Mom and Me and Mom, Angelou details what brought her mother to send her away and unearths the well of emotions Angelou experienced long afterward as a result. While Angelou''s first six autobiographies reveal about her out in the world, influencing and learning from statesmen and cultural icons, her final autobiography and conclusion to the series, Mom and Me and Mom, shares the intimate, emotional story about her own family.''She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds'' OPRAH WINFREY ''She was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents - used ten. And was a real original. There is no duplicate'' TONI MORRISON