Who is Bell Hooks' Mother from Where We Stand: Class Matters and what is their importance?

Bell's mother was a teenage divorcee with two children when she met Bell's father. Her father, swept away by her mother's beauty, quickly married her. The couple went onto have seven children.

Over the years, it became evident that Bell's mother understood the desire her children had for material possessions. Rather than deny her children, she would play psychological games in an attempt to remove their longings for things they couldn't have. Bell remembers, for example, wanting a yellow dress. Instead of telling Bell they couldn't afford the dress, her mother told her that no one would be caught dead in the dress. Although her mother's intentions were good, this kind of game led Bell to doubt her ideas and question her own judgment.

When Bell went to Stanford, her mother didn't approve. She wasn't afraid that she'd fail, but rather that she would be exposed to abuse, racism, and classism from the white elite students who made up the majority of the school's population.