This is a letter from Queen Esther Gupton Cheatham Jones to her daughter Renee Cheatham Neblett.  Renee, an artist and teacher, founded Kokrobitey Institute, an art and education center in Ghana.  The letter is from Letters From Black America, edited by Pamela Newkirk.

Dear Renee,

An institution is the lengthened shadow of one person.  Life gives nothing to mortals except earth’s great labor.  In reference to your Kokrobitey School: The test of progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.  This is sunshine for your cloudy days.

Always,

Mother