New York--(BlackNews.com)--On one extraordinary weekend in 2005, Oprah Winfrey hosted a celebration honoring women who, through their talent, their courage, and their tenacity, opened doors and allowed an entire generation to walk through.

She also invited the next generation following in their footsteps, who look to these remarkable women as mentors, role models, and friends.

Oprah asked the celebrated author and dramatist Pearl Cleage to create a poem especially for this occasion, to be read aloud during the three-day Legends Weekend.

Cleage’s eloquent tribute, We Speak Your Names, celebrates the strength, magic, wisdom, sensuality, kindness, and faith of these women.

The poem names each of the eminent women honored--Dr. Maya Angelou, Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, Toni Morrison, and Diahann Carroll, among others.

According to "People" magazine, Oprah called the reading of the poem "the most powerful thing we ever experienced. We were in tears from the deeply rooted, primal emotion connecting one generation to the next."

Now appearing in print for the first time in this beautiful keepsake book, "We Speak Your Names" is an inspiring poem for all women--a perfect Mother's Day gift destined to become a classic.

"We Speak Your Names," by Pearl Cleage with Zaron W. Burnett, Jr. One World/Ballantine Books Hardcover, $9.95; 0-345-490027-8; on sale now.