Toni Morrison Quick Info | |
---|---|
Favorite Hobby | Music |
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Date of Birth | February 18, 1931 |
Zodiac Sign | Aquarius |
Date of Death |
August 5, 2019 |
Toni Morrison was an American novelist who was best known for releasing books like The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, A Mercy, God Help the Child, Sula, Little Cloud and Lady Wind, Who’s Got Game? The Ant or the Grasshopper?, The Lion or the Mouse?, Poppy or the Snake?, Peeny Butter Fudge, Foreword, The Black Photographers Annual Volume 1, Remember: The Journey to School Integration, The Source of Self-Regard: Essays, Speeches, Meditations, and many more. She was honored with a Pulitzer Prize for Beloved in 1988 and also won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. In May 2012, President Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and she also received the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for “Achievement in American Fiction” in 2016.
Born Name
Chloe Ardelia Wofford
Nick Name / Pen Name
Toni, Toni Morrison
Age
Toni was born on February 18, 1931.
Died
Toni Morrison died on August 5, 2019, at the age of 88 in New York City, United States, from complications of pneumonia.
Sun Sign
Aquarius
Born Place
Lorain, Ohio, United States
Residence
New York, United States
Nationality
Education
Toni Morrison graduated from Lorain High School in 1949. She studied Latin in school.
After graduating from high school, she pursued her higher education in Howard University. She graduated with major in English from Howard in 1953. She continued her studies further and earned her Masters in Arts from Cornell University in 1955.
Occupation
Novelist, Writer
Family
- Father – George Wofford
- Mother – Ramah (née Willis)
- Siblings – Toni Morrison was the second of four children in her family.
Manager
Toni Morrison was attached to The Random House Publishing Group (Book Publisher), New York.
Build
Average
Toni Morrison was of the average build at a younger age as well.
Height
Toni Morrison’s exact height was not known.
Weight
Toni Morrison might have weighed 85 kg or 187 lbs
Spouse
Toni Morrison had been married to –
- Harold Morrison (1958-1964) – Toni Morrison met the Jamaican architect Harold Morrison at Howard University when she was teaching English in 1957. They got married in 1958. The couple had two sons together. The relationship, however, did not work out well and the couple separated and divorced in 1964. She gave birth to her second son Slade in 1964 after the couple’s separation.
Race / Ethnicity
Black
Hair Color
Dark Brown
Eye Color
Dark Brown
Sexual Orientation
Straight
Distinctive Writing Features
- Concentrated on Black women
- Narration style
- Euro-American dichotomies alteration
- Theme of beauty and ugliness
Religion
Roman Catholicism
Best Known For
Toni Morrison was best known for her first novel The Bluest Eye which was published in 1970.
She had also received accolades for Sula (1973), Song of Solomon (1977) and Beloved (1987).
First Novel
Toni Morrison had written The Bluest Eye as a short story for a meeting at the Howard University. Later, she developed this story as her first novel which was published in 1970.
First TV Show
In 1981, Toni Morrison appeared in The South Bank Show, a TV documentary series in the episode ‘Toni Morrison.’
First Film Adopted
The first film, which had been adopted from her novel was Beloved that was released in 1998. The film had Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover as the main characters.
Personal Trainer
Toni Morrison had never employed a personal trainer. She believed in living well and doing great work for people.
Toni Morrison Favorite Things
- Authors – Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy
- Hobby – Music
- Writers – William Shakespeare, Faulkner, Gustave Flaubert
Source – Inspirational-Black-Literature.com, Wikipedia
Toni Morrison Facts
- Toni Morrison’s novels had been critically acclaimed for their theme about African-American people. She won the American Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for her novel ‘Beloved’ in the year 1988. In 1993, she was awarded the most prestigious Nobel Award in English Literature.
- She had also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from the President of USA, Barack Obama, on May 29, 2012.
- Toni Morrison was born as Chloe Wofford but used the pen name as Toni Morrison. She was baptized as Anthony at the age of 12, which later was shortened to Toni, her present name. Morrison was her husband’s surname.
- She had played a vital role in bringing back Black literature to the mainstream by editing books written by Black authors like Henry Dumas, Toni Bambara, Angela Davis and Gayl Jones.
- She had also received noted honors from various colleges and universities. Among them, Barnard College had awarded her their highest honor ‘Barnard Medal of Distinction’ in 1979. In June of 2005, she received honorary Doctor of Letters from Oxford University.
- Toni Morrison publicly supported Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary contest for the 2008 Presidential elections.
- Her papers were the part of permanent library collections of Princeton University.
- Morrison had taught at Howard University, Princeton University, State University of New York and at Rutgers University: New Brunswick Campus.
- She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2020.
- You may want to have a look at the books written by Toni Morrison on Amazon.