We lost an icon in Toni Morrison.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author that wrote classics like “Beloved”, “Song of Solomon” and “A Mercy,” died on Monday night at the age of 88.
“She was an extremely devoted mother, grandmother, and aunt who reveled in being with her family and friends. The consummate writer who treasured the written word, whether her own, her students or others, she read voraciously and was most at home when writing,” her family wrote in a statement, as they revealed she passed away following a brief illness. “Although her passing represents a tremendous loss, we are grateful she had a long, well-lived life.”
Morrison became the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993 and wrote 11 novels, five children’s books, two plays, a song cycle, and an opera. She also won the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction and was bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.
She was born Chloe Ardelia Wofford and earned degrees from Howard University and Cornell University. She also spent time teaching at Howard and Texas Southern. Morrison was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated.
“I’ve spent my entire writing life trying to make sure that the white gaze was not the dominant one in any of my books,” said Morrison in 1998.
Her legacy will live on forever.
