Toni Morrison
1931 – 2019
About Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison (1931–2019) was an American novelist, editor, and professor, and the first Black woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature (1993). Born Chloe Ardelia Wofford in Lorain, Ohio, she graduated from Howard University and Cornell and spent 18 years as an editor at Random House, where she championed Black American literature while writing her own novels at night. Her major works — The Bluest Eye (1970), Sula (1973), Song of Solomon (1977), Tar Baby (1981), Beloved (1987), Jazz (1992), and Paradise (1997) — form one of American literature's most coherent and devastating bodies of work on the experience of Black life, memory, and freedom.
Beloved won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. She taught at Princeton for 17 years.
“Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.”
Quick Facts
- Born
- 1931
- Died
- 2019
- Lifespan
- 88 years
- Domain
- leadership
- Quotes
- 5 collected
- Key Themes
- IdentityPurposeFreedomGrowthCreativity
Learn More
Wikipedia — Toni MorrisonToni Morrison's Famous Quotes
5 quotes
“Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.”
— Tar Baby (1981)
“Make a difference about something other than yourselves.”
— Widely attributed — from various commencement addresses and public speeches
“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”
— Beloved (1987)
“You wanna fly, you got to give up the thing that weighs you down.”
— Song of Solomon (1977)
“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”
— Widely attributed — from various interviews and speeches throughout her career
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Frequently Asked Questions
Toni Morrison (1931–2019) was an American novelist, editor, and professor, and the first Black woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature (1993). Born Chloe Ardelia Wofford in Lorain, Ohio, she graduated from Howard University and Cornell and spent 18 years as an editor at Random House, where she championed Black American literature while writing her own novels at night. Her major works — The Bluest Eye (1970), Sula (1973), Song of Solomon (1977), Tar Baby (1981), Beloved (1987), Jazz (1992), and Paradise (1997) — form one of American literature's most coherent and devastating bodies of work on the experience of Black life, memory, and freedom. Beloved won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. She taught at Princeton for 17 years. Toni Morrison lived 1931 – 2019.