Toni Morrison Research Paper

Known to indicate the exquisiteness of African- American history, folklore, and culture in her writing, Toni Morrison was the first African American to take first prize in the Nobel Prize in literature. She was born February 18, 1931 in Lorain, Ohio. She was the second oldest out of four children. Her parents George and Ramah Wofford named her Chloe Anthony Wofford. She later nicknamed herself Toni because many people had trouble pronouncing Chloe. Toni was born during the midst of the Great Depression in the United States and when unemployment was excessive.(Kramer 7) In Toni Morrison’s novels, her past experiences have a direct influence on her work such as The Bluest Eye.
Her father worked multiple jobs to provide for his family. He worked as a car washer, welder in the shipyards, construction worker, and a steel mill welder. Being unemployed for such a long time, her family went through some hard times. Toni’s mother, Ramah Wofford, was a determined woman who believed in speaking out in opposition to injustice.

She was also the only black student in her class. She graduated from high school in 1949. She attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. Toni was the first woman in her family to attend college. Both of her parents worked hard to help pay for her education.(Hoffman) In college, Toni was involved in many theatrical groups and was part of several productions. One time her group travelled to the South to perform. She was not unsheltered to any racial brutality that her father had encountered there.(Kramer 22) Toni graduated from college in 1953 and received her bachelor degree in English literature and minor in classics. Later, she travelled to Ithaca, New York and attended Cornell University where she obtained her master's degree in English in 1955.(Hoffman) Toni was unsure with what to do with a master’s degree in English so she started teaching(Kramer