This Week in American History: Toni Morrison was born in February 1931. As a novelist, editor, and professor, she won both the Nobel and the Pulitzer Prizes. Further, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama in 2012.
Childhood
Born in Lorain, Ohio as Chloe Anthony Wofford, was the second oldest of four children. Her father, George Wofford, worked as a welder. Her mother, Ramah, was a domestic worker. Accordingly, Morrison credited her parents with inspiring her a love of reading, music and folklore along with clarity and perspective.
Her Career
Morrison graduated from Lorain High School with honors in 1949. Then in 1953 she received her undergraduate degree in English from Howard University. In addition, she graduated with her master’s degree from Cornell University in 1955.
Next, Morrison taught English at Howard University. Consequently, she met Jamaican architect Harold Morrison. They married in 1958 and had two sons together.
As An Author
Morrison’s first novel The Bluest Eye was published in 1970. She wrote 21 books – both fiction and non-fiction. She also wrote short stories, plays, and poetry. Her 1987 novel Beloved won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. In 1993 she became the first African-American woman to receive the Nobel Prize.
From the beginning of her career, Toni Morrison refused to be defined by the publishing industry. For this reason, she chose to stories from a minority point of view.
Morrison passed away on August 5, 2019 at Montefiore Medical Center in New York.
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Info Source: Biography, Detroit Institute of Arts
Image Source: Detroit Institute of Arts
