Toni Morrison: Crash Course Black American History #48

hi I'm Clint Smith and this is Crash Course black American history the difficulty for me in writing among the difficulties is to write language that can work quietly on a page for a reader who doesn't hear anything Tony Morrison said in a 1993 interview with the Paris review going on to say now for that one has to work very carefully with what is in between the

words what is not said I first encountered Toni Morrison's work in high school it was most often atop a sea of unmade sheets on my bed with two pillows propping me up against the headboard I used one of those cheap drugstore pens to underline the sections that most resonated it was tough for me then to read in places where there was a lot of noise I

preferred reading and writing in my room or I could listen to the soft scratch of Ink on paper and a ceiling fan whirring above which is to say I first encountered Morrison's words in the silence that she alludes to in this series we've talked about a number of authors who have used their work to share the lives and experiences of black Americans on the page and

the person we're discussing today Tony Morrison is one of the best writers that this country has ever produced she changed the literary landscape she challenged the traditionally white male Canon of literature she did it on her own terms let's start the show [Music] I don't know how else to put him Toni Morrison is a legend she published everything from plays to children's books her novels earned

many prestigious Awards including the Pulitzer Prize and the presidential medal of freedom she also was the first black American woman to win a Nobel Prize for literature much of her work centers on the stories of black people at different points throughout American history she talks about their highs and their lows their triumphs and their failures and the consequences of racism in everyday life her work emphasizes

the loss memory psychological trauma and joy of black life she wrote in ways that remain enjoyable to Everyday readers while inspiring writers of all Races she helped highlight black American literature serving as a catalyst for it to be nationally and internationally recognized Toni Morrison was born Chloe Wofford 1931. Chloe was the second of four children she grew up in Lorraine Ohio in an environment where segregation

wasn't the law but the invisible lines were understood although her family struggled in the aftermath of the Great Depression she credits her childhood as what motivated her to eventually write hearing African-American folklore and music learning about African-American cultural rituals and growing up working class when she was 12 years old Chloe converted to Catholicism she was baptized under the name Anthony for Saint Anthony of Padua and

it would be under the nickname Tony that she would become world famous after graduating with honors from Lorraine High School in Ohio in 1949 she attended Howard University Tony experienced the dangers and horrors of the segregated South while touring with the Howard players an acting Club but she also started to connect with other black writers activists and artists she graduated with a bachelor's degree in English

in 1953 and then went on to complete her master of arts in American literature from Cornell University in 1955 after she obtained her Masters she taught English at various hbcus she married Harold Morrison an architect and had two children in 1958 she returned to Howard University as a lecturer and joined the writing group where she would begin working on her first novel she spent seven years

Bambara Gail Jones June Jordan and Angela Davis many credit her with introducing a whole new group of black writers to The Wider World while elevating the Black authors around her by putting their work into print Morrison started to put her own work in the spotlight remember that novel she started working on at Howard a few years earlier well after waking up at 4am each morning to

work on it while raising her two children on her own it became her first published novel The Bluest Eye it came out in 1970 and Tony was 39 years old The Bluest Eye is about Picola breadlot a young black girl who had an extremely difficult childhood and believed that her life would be better if she just had blue eyes like the white people around her it

was seen by some as a controversial book and was met with pretty mixed reviews but Tony Morrison stated in later interviews that the book's reception was very similar to how other characters treated her main character in the novel Morrison said she was dismissed trivialized misread the lack of a warm initial reception for The Bluest Eye didn't stop Morrison she published her second novel Sula only three

years later in this book Morrison explores morality ethics and relationships through the friendship between two black women this book had a much more positive reception Than The Bluest Eye and it was even nominated for a national book award by the time Morrison published her third novel Song of Solomon in 1977. she was a household name in the black community this was one of the few books

Morrison wrote with a male protagonist a young man searching for his identity while trying to escape an oppressive Society this was her first truly commercially successful book it became the first book written by a black American Author to be selected by the book of the month club since Richard Wright's Native Son in the 1940s she received a national book critic Circle award along with many other

accolades the book became a staple of American literature in classrooms among academics and for General readers this success encouraged Morrison to become a full-time writer in 1987 Morrison released what many considered to be her magnum opus beloved the book is inspired by the true story of Margaret Garner an African-American woman who was living in slavery the main character of beloved is setha a formerly enslaved woman

was constantly haunted by her dead child after making the gut-wrenching decision to kill her children rather than see them become enslaved though three of her children survived infant daughter did not Morrison dedicates the book to the millions of Africans killed during the course of the Atlantic slave trade the title of the book is taken from Romans chapter 9 which states quote those who were not my

people I will call my people and her who was not beloved I will call Beloved the story explores themes of loss morality and the impossible choices that befall the oppressed the book became an enormous critical and Commercial Success it was a bestseller for 25 weeks and won many awards including the Pulitzer Prize or fiction from the 1980s onward Morrison's literary prowess impacted the minds and hearts

of much of the world she continued to win Awards and honors throughout her life and in 1989 she became a professor in the creative writing program at Princeton University in 1993 she became the first black woman to win the Nobel Prize in literature in 1996 she was chosen by the National Endowment for the Humanities to give the Jefferson lecture and also when the national book foundation's

medal for distinguished contribution to American letters also Oprah Winfrey loved her I mean really really loved her it was Oprah who helped bring Tony Morrison's work even further into the mainstream and she selected four of Morrison's novels in six years for her book club with an average of 13 million viewers watching these book club segments the support from Oprah helped Morrison sell millions of copies and

gave her an even bigger sales boost than she experienced when she won the Nobel Prize in 1998 beloved was even made into a movie starring well Oprah as well as Tandy Way Newton and Danny Glover and honestly the rest is history Morrison received a dozen honorary degrees and was a guest curator at the Louvre museum in Paris she received the presidential medal of freedom which was

awarded to her by the first black president of the United States Barack Obama in total she wrote 11 novels nine non-fiction works five children's books two short stories and two plays throughout her life she died on August 5th 2019 in New York City several years ago before she passed away I had the opportunity to see Morrison give a lecture in person it was an extraordinary experience

to physically be in the presence of one of the greatest writers to have ever lived when Morrison came onto the stage the audience Rose to their feet and gave a resounding Round of Applause whistles and cheers ricocheted across the vastness of the room Morrison was brought to a table at the front of the stage cloaked in a red cloth that had a small glass of water

at its corner at 85 years old she was still remarkably Lucid as I listened to her speak I thought of my future children how one day they will read Morrison and how they might Marvel at the fact that their father once shared a room with this writer who seemed to belong to another world I will tell them that when she spoke the vows stretched across the

theater like a hammock I will tell them that her laughter pushed open the walls of the room and invited everyone in Morrison laid the foundation for generations of black writers that followed she rejected the idea that being black or being a woman might hinder her appeal or the universality of her work in a 1987 interview with the New York Times Morrison said quote I really think

the range of emotions and perceptions I've had access to as a black person and as a female person are greater than those people who are neither so it seems to me that my world did not shrink because I was a black female writer it just got bigger Morrison is gone now but she indeed made the world bigger she built upon her literary ancestors and paved the

way for her literary descendants she is one of the best writers to have ever lived and she transformed our understanding of what literature could do thanks for watching I'll see you next time crash course is made with the help of all these nice people and our animation team is thought Cafe crash course is made possible by all of our viewers and supporters thank you to all

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