For Toni

There’s a moment that calls for pause, when you first read a Toni Morrison book. Whether it was in English class, or recommended by a friend, you realize that someone has dared to shine light on the stories that were so long kept in the dark. And they did it beautifully.

From the warped lives surrounding Pecola Breedlove in The Bluest Eye, to the Margaret Garner inspired story that is Beloved, Morrison carefully wove together stories that inspired many, teaching us that our voice is the greatest power, and our words are the truest strength. She is the author of several works, some being the Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, Beloved, Paradise, Tar Baby, Jazz, A Mercy, and Love. She is the winner of the National Medal for Humanities, the American Book Award, the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and her work Beloved both won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction as well as being named the best work of late 20th century American fiction by Times Magazine. Morrison edited at Random House, where she served to uplift and extrapolate the voices of upcoming black writers, fostering a new generation that we can hope impacts others as greatly as Morrison did. She taught us that our introspection is not centered around the white gaze, and that creating our stories will never equate fixing their mistakes. “They should start thinking about what they can do about it.” Her work will always be relevant. It will remain transcendent. So we say Toni Morrison’s name, not simply in sorrow, but also in pride. For though she has passed, her works will inspire generations to come, as they have inspired us, and hopefully inspired you.