Timeline Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison 21

• 1931 Toni Morrison born in Lorain, Ohio Chloe Ardelia Wofford is born in the steel town of Lorain, Ohio. She later takes the name Anthony at baptism, shortened to Toni.
• 1949 Morrison enters Howard University Toni Morrison studies English at Howard University in Washington and acts with the Howard University Players.
• 1955 Morrison earns her master's at Cornell Toni Morrison completes a master's degree at Cornell with a thesis on Virginia Woolf and William Faulkner.
• 1957 Morrison teaches at Howard Toni Morrison returns to Howard to teach English. Her students include Stokely Carmichael.
• 1958 Morrison marries Harold Morrison Toni Wofford marries the Jamaican architect Harold Morrison. They divorce in 1964.
• 1965 Morrison becomes an editor Toni Morrison joins a textbook division of Random House in Syracuse, New York.
• 1967 Morrison becomes Random House's first Black woman senior editor Toni Morrison moves to the New York office, where she publishes Angela Davis, Gayl Jones and Muhammad Ali.
• 1970 Morrison publishes The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison's first novel, about a Black girl who longs for blue eyes, is published.
• 1973 Morrison publishes Sula Toni Morrison's second novel, about a friendship between two women in Ohio, is nominated for the National Book Award.
• 1977 Morrison publishes Song of Solomon Toni Morrison's novel wins the National Book Critics Circle Award.
• 1981 Morrison publishes Tar Baby Toni Morrison publishes Tar Baby and appears on the cover of Newsweek.
• 1987 Morrison publishes Beloved Toni Morrison's novel of the escaped slave Sethe, haunted by the daughter she killed, is published.
• 1988 Morrison wins the Pulitzer Prize Toni Morrison receives the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Beloved.
• 1989 Morrison becomes a Princeton professor Toni Morrison takes a chair in the humanities at Princeton University, where she teaches until 2006.
• 1992 Morrison publishes Jazz Toni Morrison's novel set in 1920s Harlem appears, along with her critical study Playing in the Dark.
• 1993 Toni Morrison wins the Nobel Prize in Literature Toni Morrison becomes the first Black woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• 1998 Morrison's Beloved filmed Jonathan Demme's film of Beloved stars Oprah Winfrey. Morrison also publishes Paradise.
• 2008 Morrison publishes A Mercy Toni Morrison's novel set in 1680s America appears.
• 2012 Morrison receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom President Barack Obama awards Toni Morrison the nation's highest civilian honour.
• 2015 Morrison publishes God Help the Child Toni Morrison's eleventh and last novel is published.
• 2019 Toni Morrison dies in New York Toni Morrison dies at 88 in the Bronx.