Biographical Essay
In the mid-20th century, the Civil Rights Movement inspired African American authors to express their thoughts. Toni Morrison stood as one of the most famous African-American writer of the time that discussed social injustice and racism in America. Her real name was Cloy Anthony Jofford. She was born on the 10th of February, 1931, in Lorain, Ohio. Toni was the second child born to George and Ramah Wafford. Toni’s parents came from sharecropping families who fled to the North in search of better living conditions in the early 1990s, and her family had experienced a significant level of discrimination. Morrison’s parents encouraged her passion for learning, reading, and culture. They educated her before later sending her to Lorain High School. Toni Morrison emerged as a famous African-American writer because of her desire and commitment to teaching people about all aspects of the present and past life of blacks in America.
As an adolescent, Morrison’s life was filled with African folklore, rituals, music, and myths. Her family observed that she was intimate with supernatural and frequently used signs and visions to predict the future. She learned how to read, and it emerged as one of the things in life that she loved spending time doing. Morrison graduated high school with honors in 1949 and joined Howard University in Washington DC, where she majored in English Literature. During this time, she changed her name from Chloe to Toni to make it easier to pronounce. She was a member of the Howard Repertory Theatre and their trips to performing allowed her to observe the experience of black Americans in the South. Morrison went ahead to pursue graduate studies at Cornell University and in 1955 doing her Master of Arts degree.
While at Howard, she met Harold Morrison, a young Jamaican architect who also taught at the University. The partners married in 1958 and got two sons, Herold and Slade, before seeking a divorce in 1964. She then went to Syracuse, New York, where she began working as an editor. She worked for a long time, and in 1967, she became a senior editor. Morrison edited books of famous Afro-Americans, such as Andrew Young and Mohammed Ali. She also worked as a teacher at Texas Southern University and a visiting lecture at Yale in 1976 and 1977.
As a bold novelist, Morrison became an unwavering defender of her race, along with its heritage. Morrison held numerous jobs, including writing, teaching, and editing. However, she became famous due to her notable feminist writing and African-American literature. Morison wrote eleven novels, five children’s books, two plays, and two short stories. Morison’s groundbreaking works came from the novels where she made a point to reveal the complexities of African American lives and womanhood, captured through shocking dramas and poetic period pieces. Her most famous novels include Son of Solomon, The Bluest Eye, Sula, and Beloved, among others.
With her wonderful masterpiece literary works, Morrison began setting records for awards after the publication of Song of Solomon. She first received the National Book Award and the Ohioana Book Award in 1975. Morrison became the first African American female to produce a Book-of-the-Month Club essential selection, and the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters gave her a stipend of $3,000. She further received awards from City College of New York Langston Hughes Festival and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. As a sign of her continued presence in the world of literature, she was invited to address the American Writer’s Congress in 1981. In 1988, a list of awards came tumbling after, including Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, Melcher Book Award, and the City of New York Mayor’s Award of Honor for Art and Culture, Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award. Morrison also won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel Beloved in 1988 and Elmer Holmes Bobst Award in Arts and Letters.
She then advanced, and President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the National Council on the Arts in 1980. Additionally, Morrison received the New York State Governor’s Arts Council Award and presidential honor. In 2001, President Bill Clinton gave her the National Arts and Humanities Award in Washington DC. The president’s speech during the award ceremony included Morison’s effort to educate American society.
Conclusively, Morrison died on the 5th of August, 2019, at the age of 88 at Montefiore Medical Center in The Bronx, New York, from pneumonia-related complications. Upon her demise, she was eulogized by, among others, Oprah Winfrey and Michael Ondaatje. Overall, Morrison’s life, both as an adolescent, career, and adulthood, remains an inspiration to many feminists today.