Roberta Medina
I was moved and saddened to hear that another African American icon, Toni Morrison, had passed away. She died in August of this year. I’m writing this article to give you some insight into her life and work.
The Morrison family was originally from Alabama but left in the early 1900s, taking up residence in Akron, OH. Toni began reading at the age of three and never lost her hunger for the written word. She was amused at the way an author could phrase the same idea or meaning by using different words. She worked with her sister at the public library, which gave her the opportunity to read as much as she wanted. She discovered that “words have power,” and so began her life’s journey to becoming a renowned author, editor, activist, and a voice for African Americans.
Her books were written from the black experience. They were not intended to appeal to white people. She found the core of this country’s principles and governing documents to be cruel and fictitious. Critics had never been exposed to an author like Morrison. Several of her books were banned because they were judged by that segment America that didn’t fully understand. Oprah’s book club listed many, if not all of her books, and Oprah was obsessed with Morrison’s book, Beloved. As you might know, Oprah made and starred in that movie.
She was a global phenomenon and was described as the “emancipation proclamation of the English language.” Her thirst for reading and authoring lead her to study and earn degrees from Howard and Princeton Universities. She married and had two sons. Ms. Morrison was the spark and motivation for Angela Davis and Muhammad Ali’s memoirs. She held down her job at Random House Publishing while she authored a book at the same time, all while bringing out the literary “nuggets” of those she mentored.
Some say she was the architect, the midwife, and the editor for those she helped. She challenged the pay equity at her workplace and attained pay equal to that of her male peers.
She was encouraged to quit her job and write full time by the man who had recommended her for her first senior editing job. She settled in a beautiful house on the banks of a serene lake, with a dock that led to a gazebo for sitting in the quiet hours of the day. Her best work always came in the early dawn.
It was at this time that she wrote Beloved, which was a story of a slave woman, Margaret Garner, who had declared that her only possessions in life were her two children and for whom she would find a way for a better life. When she attempted to escape the plantation, she encountered a frozen river that lay ahead on the path to freedom. Her master was in pursuit and caught her crossing the river, the slave woman made a decision that was the most heart-wrenching of her life. She let one child drown in the icy water and slit the throat of her other child. Following her capture, Ms. Garner was to be brought before the local authorities. What makes the story so overtly cruel is that the white authorities had to decide whether to charge her for murder or destruction of property. If she was charged with murder, she and her children would have to be recognized as “human beings.” That principle, which had been in place since the founding of the United States, had not been tested in America during that period. This irony of this inconsistency has not been reconciled to this day.
Her most noteworthy awards were the Nobel Prize for Literature, making her the first African American and one of only three women to earn this prize. She was also awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The source for my piece was the 2019 documentary movie, The Pieces I Am, as told by Toni Morrison and various close friends. We truly will miss a national treasure.