What is the "Mother to Son" poem about?

I was forced to yze this poem in eight grade from head to foot so I know that I can be of some istance. This poem is about a mother telling her son about all the hardships that she had to go through in her life. Then she tells her son not to give up no matter how hard it is to keep going on. The stairs and everything on or not on it are a metaphor for her life.