This week, Her Campus Emerson has decided to highlight influential women of the modern era. These women have all made an impact on our writers in one way or another, and they have all chosen to highlight their work and recognize them for their achievements. Thank you for taking the time to learn about the women who inspire our writers!
Toni Morrison is an American Writer who has won countless awards for her works throughout her career. Through her work, she focused on teaching heart-wrenching lessons in topics of oppression. I decided to focus this article on Toni Morrison because I believe that she has been one of the most influential writers in modern day, and that the teaching she is doing through her books is extremely noteworthy. As a writer myself, I can appreciate the inspiring beauty of Morrison’s work, and I admire it as something that I can do as well. While I know I might never be able to write so many amazing stories and novels, I’m glad that Morrison has been able to and that I’m living in a world where her work is appreciated and taught.
Morrison was born in 1931 and grew up in the American midwest. She received both a bachelor’s degree (Howard University) and a master’s degree (Cornell University) in English. After a brief spell teaching at Howard, Morrison became a fiction editor for Random House and then proceeded to teach at the State University of New York in Albany, and later, Princeton University.
Morrison wrote her first book, The Bluest Eye, which was published in 1971. The book talked about the effects of beauty standards on a young, black adolescent. After her first novel, Morrison went on to publish more books including Sula (1973), Song of Solomon (1977), and Tar Baby (1981). After publishing the aforementioned titles, Morrison continued writing, and published Beloved (1987), which won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. The novel is based on a true story of a runaway slave who made the choice to kill her infant daughter to save her from the bond of slavery upon her recapture. In addition, Morrison also published Jazz (1992), Paradise (1998), Love (2003), A Mercy (2008), Home (2012), and God Help The Child (2015). Not only that, but the plethora of titles don’t even begin to touch on the countless short stories, poems, speeches, essays, and other non-fiction works that Morrison has also produced.
Through her work, Morrison writes to spread lessons about the Black American experience. Though her works span different time periods, topics, and characters, each of her novels have been influential in the way that they describe the effects of what it means to be a person of color in the United States.
For me, Morrison has been an influential part of my life and has allowed me to open my eyes to a world that would have been otherwise hidden from my view. I think that the work Morrison is doing is more than important, and we need more writers like her to inspire change in others through their literature. While I can’t personally speak to the implications of the black experience, I know that there are aspects of my life I can speak to and plan on speaking to in my writing every chance I get. The way to instill change is to do everything in your power to tell the story of the people you represent. Having the gift to write isn’t something that everyone has, nor does everyone have access to tell their stories. Proving people with an accessible way to learn about the things they can’t otherwise experience is important, and it is helping pave the way to instill change in culture so that we might one day be able to look back at books like Morrison’s and remember them as part of history, not modern day society.
All information can be credited to Encyclopedia Britannica.