Ms. Toni Morrison

Ms. Chloe Anthony Wofford (1931-2019), who wrote under the name of Ms. Toni Morrison, was an American novelist who profoundly influenced the course of modern American literature.  As a Black woman who grew up in the American Midwest, Ms. Morrison developed an intense appreciation for Black identity and culture, which fueled her devotion to addressing topics of racism in her literary work, according to britannica.com.  

In pursuit of enriching her love of storytelling, Ms. Morrison graduated from Howard University in 1953 with a bachelor’s degree in English.  She earned her Master of Arts in English from Cornell University in 1955, according to womenshistory.org.  She then served as a professor at various universities before publishing her first book, The Bluest Eye (1970), a novel that frames a young Black girl’s struggle to live up to white standards of beauty, according to britannica.com.

Ms. Morrison’s best-selling novel Beloved (1987) won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.  Her literary laurels also include a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993 and a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 from then President Barack Obama, according to guardian.com.  In fact, Ms. Morrison was the first African American woman to win the Nobel, paving the way for future generations of Black writers.

Truly, during the course of her life, Ms. Morrison greatly influenced American literature.  Her literary works persist in broadening the discourse of race in America today and beyond, unveiling the uncomfortable and ongoing realities of American society. 

“My world did not shrink because I was a Black female writer,” Ms. Morrison said, according to The New York Times.  “It just got bigger.”