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Quick Facts
- NAME: Toni Morrison
- OCCUPATION: Writer
- BIRTH DATE: February 18, 1931 (Age: 82)
- EDUCATION: Howard University, Cornell University, Lorain High School
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Lorain, Ohio
- AKA: Chloe Ardelia Wofford
- AKA: Chloe Wofford
- Full Name: Chloe Anthony Wofford
- AKA: Toni Wofford
- ZODIAC SIGN: Aquarius
Best Known For
Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize- and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved.
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James Baldwin - Later Years (1:45)
Toni Morrison - Mini Biography
Toni Morrison's novels include "The Bluest Eye," "Sula," and "Beloved."
Alice Walker - The Mysterious Wonder of Life
Author Alice Walker began writing early in life. When an injury to her left eye afforded her the chance to go to College, Walker began to work towards her goal of becoming a professional writer.
Alice Walker - Pursuing Civil Rights
While at Spelman College, Alice Walker turned down a scholarship to study abroad in Paris in order to go to Mississippi to pursue civil rights equality.
James Baldwin - Later Years
After writing about a variety of controversial issues and making his voice heard through several publications, James Baldwin.
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Play NowToni Morrison. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 05:55, May 23, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/toni-morrison-9415590.
Toni Morrison. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/toni-morrison-9415590 [Accessed 23 May 2013].
"Toni Morrison." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 23 2013, 05:55 http://www.biography.com/people/toni-morrison-9415590.
"Toni Morrison," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/toni-morrison-9415590 [accessed May 23, 2013].
"Toni Morrison," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/toni-morrison-9415590 (accessed May 23, 2013).
Toni Morrison [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 23] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/toni-morrison-9415590.
Toni Morrison, http://www.biography.com/people/toni-morrison-9415590 (last visited May 23, 2013).
Toni Morrison. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/toni-morrison-9415590. Accessed May 23, 2013.
Morrison continued to explore the African-American experience in its many forms and time periods in her work. Her next novel, Sula (1973),
Contents
explores good and evil through the friendship of two women who grew up together. The work was nominated for the American Book Award.
Song of Solomon (1977) became the first work by an African-American author to be a featured selection in the book-of-the-month club since Native Son by Richard Wright. It follows the journey of Milkman Dead as he searches the South for his roots. Morrison received a number of accolades for this work.
A rising literary star, Morrison was appointed to the National Council on the Arts in 1980. The following year, Tar Baby was published. The novel drew some inspiration from folktales, and it received a decidedly mixed reaction from critics. Her next work, however, proved to be one of her greatest masterpieces. Beloved (1987) explores love and the supernatural. The main character, a former slave, is haunted by her decision to kill her children rather than see them become slaves. Three of her children survived, but her infant daughter died at her hand. For this spellbinding work, Morrison won several literary awards, including the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Ten years later, in 1998, the book was turned into a movie starring Oprah Winfrey.
Branching Out
Morrison became a professor at Princeton University in 1989, and continued to produce great works. In recognition of her contributions to her field, she received the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature, making her the first African-American woman to be selected for the award. The following year, she published the novel Jazz, which explores marital love and betrayal.
At Princeton, Morrison established a special workshop for writers and performers known as the Princeton Atelier in 1994. The program was designed to help students create original works in a variety of artistic fields. Outside of her academic work, Morrison continued to write new works of fiction. Her next novel, Paradise (1998), which focused on a fictional African-American town called Ruby, earned mixed reviews.
In 1999, Morrison branched out to children's literature. She worked with her son Slade on The Big Box, The Book of Mean People (2002) and The Ant or the Grasshopper? (2003). She has also explored other genres, writing the play Dreaming Emmett in the mid-1980s and the lyrics for "Four Songs" with composer Andre Previn in 1994 and "Sweet Talk" with composer Richard Danielpour in 1997.
Her next novel, Love (2003), divides its narrative between the past and present. Bill Cosey, a wealthy entrepreneur and owner of the Cosey Hotel and Resort, is the center figure in the work. The flashbacks explore his life, while his death casts a long shadow on the present part of the story. A critic for Publisher's Weekly praised the work, stating that "Morrison has crafted a gorgeous, stately novel whose mysteries are gradually unearthed."
Later Works
In 2006, Morrison announced she was retiring from her post at Princeton.
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Famous Black Writers
View groupThey are the famous African-American writers who have fearlessly examined cultural stigmas, provided intimate life details, presented new ideas and created remarkable fiction through literary works. For their prophetic genius, these men and women have received Pulitzer Prizes, NAACP awards and even Nobel Prizes, among other honors. Our list of prominent African-American authors includes Toni Morrison, who has detailed the lives of black characters who struggle with identity amidst racism and hostility; Langston Hughes, a founder of the Harlem Renaissance; and Maya Angelou, who has eloquently chronicled various eras of her life through her autobiographies.
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View groupDespite all sorts of institutional obstacles, women have continued to reach stratospheric levels of success in a full gamut of professional pursuits, whether as scientists, scribes, educators, governmental leaders, athletes, designers, film directors or performers. Learn more about the plethora of triumphs obtained by our group of trailblazers.
Visit Biography.com's Women's History group to explore more biographies, photos and videos of some the world's most fascinating women.
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