Biography-Criticism
Toni Morrison was born Chloe Anthony Wofford on Feb.18, 1931 in Lorain, Ohio. From an early age, her parents taught her about African American culture, myths, ghost stories and a love of great literature. Morrison never had aspirations to be a writer.  Although she was encouraged by teachers to write, she dreamed of being a dancer.

Morrison attended college at Howard University. While at Howard, she was a member of the theatrical company.  Morrison graduated from Howard University in 1953 with a degree in English and a minor in classics.  She continued on to earn a master’s degree from Cornell University. After her graduation from Cornell, she got a teaching job at Texas Southern University.  Morrison returned to Howard in 1957 to teach English.  She met her husband, Harold Morrison while at Howard and married in 1958.  They had two children, Harold Ford and Slade Kevin.  They were divorced in 1964.  In 1965 Morrison was hired as an editor for Random House in Syracuse, New York.  Morrison worked for 20 years as an editor for Random House.

Morrison published her first novel, The Bluest Eye, in 1970.  This was not a commercial success but she gained critical attention.  In 1973, Sula was published.  This novel gained more critical attention and was a greater commercial success.  Sula was an alternate selection by the Book of the Month Club, excerpted in Redbook and nominated for the 1975 National Book Award in Fiction. In Feb. 1974, Morrison edited The Black Book, and anthology of 300 years of African American Life.  In 1977, she published Song of Solomon.  The book was a national sensation.  Song of Solomon was the first novel by a black writer to be selected Book of the Month since Richard Wright’s Native Son.  The novel received the National Book Critics Circle Award and an appointment to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.  In 1978, Song of Solomon was a national best seller and President Carter appointed Morrison to the National Council on the Arts.  In 1981, she published Tar Baby.  This novel was on the bestseller list for 4 months and met mixed criticisms. Also in 1981, Morrison was on the cover of the March 30th issue of Newsweek.  She was the first black woman to be featured on the cover.

In1983, Morrison left Random House after 20 years.  In 1984, she was named the Albert Schweitzer Professor of Humanities at the State University of NY in Albany.  She was a professor of Creative writing and African American literature.  Morrison began writing a play called Dreaming Emmett, which was based on the true story of Emmett Till.  The play premiered Jan.4, 1986 at Market Place Theatre in Albany.  In 1987, Morrison published Beloved and it was acclaimed as her most powerful novel. On March 31, 1988 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. In 1987, she was named Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Council of Humanities at Princeton.  Morrison was the first African American woman writer to hold a named chair at an Ivy League School.  In 1992, she published Jazz.  Along with Jazz, Morrison published a series of lectures that she delivered at Harvard as a critical study called Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination.  On Oct. 7, 1993, Toni Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.  She was the 8th woman and the first black woman to receive this award. In 1996, Morrison received the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.  Her acceptance speech was published in 1997 titled “The Dancing Mind”.  In 1998, she published her 7th novel, Paradise.  In 2003, Morrison published her latest novel, titled Love.  In addition to her novels, Morrison has collaborated on children’s books with her son Slade and she has written essays about controversial events such the OJ Simpson trial, and the Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas scandal.  Morrison still teaches at Princeton University.

As one of the pioneers of the Black Women’s Renaissance, Morrison has written novels that capture the experience of being black in America.  Morrison is especially recognized for capturing the experience of being a black woman in America.  Morrison often intertwines magic realism, supernatural elements, and African American myth in many of her novels.  All of these elements give her novels a richness that is enjoyed and appreciated by most who read them.
 

Selected Bibliography

Works by the Author
The Bluest Eye, 1970 
Sula, 1973
Song of Solomon, 1977
Tar Baby, 1981
Dreaming Emmett, 1986
Beloved, 1987
Jazz, 1992
Playing in the Dark:  Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, 1992
“The Dancing Mind,” 1997
Paradise, 1998
The Big Box, 1999
Remember: The Journey to School Integration, 2003
Love, 2003 
 

Works about the Author
Bloom, Harold, ed.   Modern Critical Views:  Toni Morrison.  Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1990. 

Century, Douglas.  Black Americans of Achievement:  Toni Morrison.  New York:  Chelsea House  Publishers, 1994.

Gates Jr., Henry Louis, and K.A. Appiah, ed.  Toni Morrison:  Critical Perspectives Past and Present.  New York: Amistad, 1993. 
 

Related Links
http://www.nobel.se/literature/laureates/1993/index.html
Short biography and Nobel Prize acceptance speech

http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwtms/
Toni Morrison society
 

This page was researched and submitted by Maiesha Meegan.  Please contact the editor with any questions or suggestions.