Toni Morrison
Iconic Graduates
Nobel & Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novelist, Essayist & Professor
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Field of Study
Bachelor of Fine Arts
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Year Graduated
1953
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Affiliation
Alumni, Faculty
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Hometown
Lorain, Ohio
Quote
“Make a difference about something other than yourselves”Biography
Toni Morrison told her parents, “I want to be surrounded by black intellectuals,” and chose Howard University. She explored her love for drama as a member of the Howard University Players, which is the university’s oldest student-run performing arts organization. Morrison graduated in 1953 with a bachelor’s degree in English and minor in classics. After getting her master’s degree in English from Cornell University, Morrison returned to Howard as an English professor for seven years. She also became involved with a writers' group while at Howard, which she has credited with starting her on the road to becoming a novelist.Morrison is hailed widely as one of the world’s greatest storytellers. She exemplifies Howard University’s core value of truth as she dares to explore race, love, and even the supernatural. Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award for her novel Beloved, which would later be adapted into a film. Since the publishing of Beloved, Morrison has been awarded numerous honors for her writing and activism, including the Nobel Prize in Literature, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented by President Barack Obama.