Hughes purpose, and why a mother?

To me, the message in "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes is relatively straightforward; a mother shares with her son that her life has been challenging in many ways, yet by moving forward she was able to make progress and face her obstacles even when her hope was nearly gone. Further, she encourages her son to do just the same, recognizing that his life will have many of the same challenges as her own. Hughes uses an extended metaphor throughout the entire poem comparing life to a staircase. Within the poem he uses smaller metaphors to represent the challenges in life, such as "boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor." I think this use of metaphor is important to show the extremity of the obstacles without actually stating them, keeping the work poetic yet portraying a social message as well.

The challenges the poem is referring to are those faced by African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance, leading up to the Civil Rights Movement. While it was clear why this message was important to Hughes, I am unsure why he chose to use a mother's perspective, as opposed to a father's. My curiosity led me to do some research on Hughes, and I read that he was never married and there were theories that he was homosexual. Although he never admitted this, his lack of a father-son relationship may have given him a neutral stand point in regards to children, making him just as comfortable writing from a mother's perspective as a fathers. This poem is uplifting and encouraging to any reader, but also is clear in its social message.