Toni Morrison is internationally known for her exploration into Black American experiences, and how they were impacted by the legacy of slavery. Chloe Ardelia Wofford (Toni Morrison) was born in Lorain, Ohio in 1931. As a child, her grandmother introduced her to ghost stories, which greatly impacted her writing. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a minor in classics from Howard University in 1953, before receiving a Master of Arts in English from Cornell University in 1955. For two years, Morrison taught English at Texas Southern University, where she began writing the basis of her first novel, The Bluest Eye. In the late 1960s, Toni Morrison took an editorial position in Random House’s trade-book division in New York City, during which time she began working with Black authors, including Toni Cade Bambara and Angela Davis. Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. In 1989, she began teaching courses in creative writing, as well as in the humanities and African American studies at Princeton University.

Morrison’s novels are known for their nonlinear plots, which force her characters to explore the generational weight of their histories, as well as the bonds of Black culture and community. Superstition and magic are frequently present in her novels, in addition to unflinching portrayals of alcoholism, rape, and abuse. Over the course of her career, Morrison wrote a total of eleven novels, many of which are concerned with the legacy of slavery, as well as a number of children’s books and essay collections, including Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination (1992).

Toni Morrison was held in high regard by many of her contemporaries, and in 1988 two dozen Black writers signed an open letter from The Time Book Review protesting the fact Morrison was “yet to receive the keystone honors of the National Book Award or the Pulitzer Prize.” In 1988, Morrison was in fact awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Beloved, which is widely regarded as her masterwork. Her other awards include the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1977 for Song of Solomon, and a Coretta Scott King Award in 2005 for Remember: The Journey to School Integration, which is geared toward children. In 1993, she became the first African American woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. Morrison also received the National Humanities Medal in 2000, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.