Research Guides: Toni Morrison: Biography

Toni Morrison (February 18, 1931 - August 5, 2019)

Toni Morrison is widely regarded as one of the most significant African American novelists to have emerged in the 1970’s. Her novel Sula was nominated for the National Book Award in 1975, and in 1977, Song of Solomon won the National Book Critics Circle Award. The former was a Book-of-the-Month Club alternate and the latter, a main selection. In 1988, Beloved was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, and in 1993, Morrison became the first black woman to be honored with the Nobel Prize in Literature. Continue . . .

Source: Hoffman, Kate Begnal; Nika, and Theresa L. Stowell. “Toni Morrison.” Critical Survey of Long Fiction, Fourth Edition, Jan. 2010, pp. 1–10. From Literary Reference Center Plus database.

Book Collection

Resources

The Toni Morrison Society The Toni Morrison Society was founded May 28, 1993, at the annual meeting of the American Literature Association in Baltimore, Maryland. At the invitation of Carolyn Denard, then an Associate Professor of English at Georgia State University, twenty-six scholars and supporters of Morrison's work met in Baltimore to establish the Toni Morrison Society as an official member of the coalition of American author societies that comprise the American Literature Association. With its founding, the Toni Morrison Society became the 41st author society of the Association and the fourth dedicated to an African American author.
Toni Morrison Write, Erase, Do It Over Interview by Rebecca Sutton
The Spirit and the Strength: A Profile of Toni Morrison Article by by Kevin Nance.
Slavery and `Americanness.' Presents an excerpt from the book entitled `Playing in the Dark.'
1927: Harlem An excerpt from the book "Jazz," by Toni Morrison is presented.

From Films On Demand database:

Toni Morrison This program introduces one of the greatest contemporary American authors: winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature, "a literary Moses stripping away the idols of whiteness and blackness that have prevented blacks from knowing themselves." Readings from Beloved and Jazz show how she returns to the pain of slavery and segregation to restore wholeness to the black psyche. "The past," Morrison says, "is more infinite than the future... It’s avoiding it, deceiving ourselves about it, that paralyzes growth." (25 minutes)
Toni Morrison's “Home”: A Soldier Fights a War Abroad and Racism at Home In her new novel "Home," author Toni Morrison tells the story of a soldier, Frank Money, who joins the Army, absorbing the atrocities of the Korean War, and then returns home after his service only to be greeted with both the institutional and casual realities of daily prejudice. Morrison speaks with NewsHour’s Jeffrey Brown. Original broadcast date: May 29, 2012.
Toni Morrison: A Writer's Work Toni Morrison exists in two worlds: the visible world, bustling around her, and the world of her novels, whose characters tell about an interior reality hidden from the eyes of strangers. In her work, Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison has transported millions of readers into the experience of being black in America and confronting the realities of race. In this program with Bill Moyers, Morrison discusses the characters in her work, the people in her life, the power of love, and how the invented world of fiction connects to life. (52 minutes)
Toni Morrison: In Black And White Winner of numerous awards, most notably the Nobel Prize for Literature, Toni Morrison made it possible for a new generation of African-American writers to have a voice in the mainstream literary dialogue. Her evocative, multilayered tales illuminate the black experience and have the power to change how readers look at American history. In this program, Morrison explains her statement that “American literature is incoherent without the contribution of African-American writers.” Part of the series In Black and White: Six Profiles of African American Authors. (27 minutes)
Toni Morrison Uncensored In this compelling program, world-renowned author Toni Morrison candidly answers questions regarding how she became a writer, the pain of empathizing with her characters, the sensual nature of her novels, and how it felt to win the Nobel Prize. In addition, she pulls no punches discussing how she first became aware of her racial otherness, how writing for a black audience has kept her work from becoming derivative, the societal uses of racism, and how racism leads to barbarism when individuals abdicate their humanity. (30 minutes)