Toni Morrison is a Nobel Laureate who has written acclaimed novels, short stories, children’s books, and many other works. Toni Morrison wrote “Black Matters” in 1979. Toni Morrison was born Chloe Anthony Wofford on February 18th 1931. Toni Morrison went to Howard University for two years before pursuing an English degree at Cornell University. Toni Morrison later went on to receive a master’s degree in English from Cornell University.
Toni Morrison was married for one year before getting divorced, Toni Morrison had two sons with her first husband whom she also got divorced from. Toni Morrison never remarried but took on both of her ex-husbands surnames as her own. Toni Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize twice for her novels “Beloved” and “Song of Solomon”. Toni Morrison has written many other award winning books such as “Sula”, “Jazz”, Sigrid Undset Prize, The Arthur C Clarke Award, Nobel Prize, etcetera.
Toni Morrison is currently retired after the release of her last novel in 2012. Toni Morrison still lives in New York City and is a Professor Emerita at Princeton University. Toni Morrison has also been a visiting professor at Saint Mary’s College of California, University of Missouri-Kansas City, and Brandeis. Toni Morrison said that she owes much to the work of Black Arts Movement pioneers such as Larry Neal who died in 1975. Toni Morrison was born Toni Morris but decided to shorten her name because it “was too long for people” (Morrison).
Toni Morrison wrote an essay titled “Black Matters”[1] where she talks about black life during that time period from the perspective from the black community rather than a white person’s perspective. Toni Morrison starts off by talking about how during this time, 1979, in the African-American community there is a need to know black history. Toni Morrison talks about how when she was in school they didn’t teach her or any colored person about what happened in their own history in America.
Toni Morrison feels that up until this point in time blacks were never seen as individuals and Toni Morrison wants society to see them as “individuals who have been denied opportunities” Toni Morrison’s essay brings up an interesting point which was brought up by many of Toni Morrisons works such as Song of Solomon where Toni Morrison implies that the only way for the people to move forward from slavery is for them to be able to see themselves through their heritage and not look at themselves through the eyes of the dominant society.
Toni Morrison feels that blacks will only be able to move forward when they are allowed to know their own history which Toni Morrison states is told by white people who Toni Morrison questions would not tell it accurately (Morrison). Toni Morrison feels that this is one of the ways in which Black identity can be formed in America and Toni Morrison uses historical figures such as Toussaint L’ouverture, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Abraham Lincoln etcetera to bring up her point (Morrison).
Toni Morrisons essay seems very plausible because any person who wants to learn about something must first know what they want to find out or else there would be no point in researching anything. Toni Morrison does a good job by talking about black history from the perspective of blacks because Toni Morrison’s way of writing is from her own personal experience being a black person during this time period and Toni Morrison simply wants to make a point that Toni Morrison feels it is important for blacks to know their roots and Toni Morrison even says “knowledge is power” (Morrison).
Toni Morrison has written many other works on race relations such as Playing in the Dark where Toni Morrison talks about how African-American literature was influenced by white people or The Bluest Eye which deals with colorism among blacks. Toni Morrisons essay shows great insight into some problems that were going on at the time which were related to not having black history taught at school and Toni Morrison wants to help blacks come together as a community by teaching them about their heritage.
Toni Morrison’s essay has helped me see that Toni Morrison feels that history is not always written down in the right way because Toni Morrison feels that Toussaint L’ouverture and Frederick Douglass and other important figures were not properly praised for their actions and Toni Morrison even uses Abraham Lincoln as an example of how the whites try to make him look like the hero when he freed all slaves which Toni Morrison says was really done through Toussaint L’ouverture (Morrison).
Morrison claims that black knowledge is not viewed as real knowledge by society. Toni Morrison believes that traditional literature does not include African American “knowledge,” or morals in a way which can be communicated to other races and cultures. Toni Morrison goes so far as to say that it looks like traditional literature contains no tangible meaning for anybody but white males. Toni Morrison also addresses the representation of blacks in history books, where she says it is easy to find references to slaves who run away from their masters, but difficult to find information on abolitionists (Morrison 312).
Toni Morrison then criticizes the idea that stories written about whites have universal meaning while stories written about blacks have only regional significance. Toni Morrison also questions the representation of African Americans in music by saying that “at present there is little or no black music taught in schools, included in anthologies, performed by our professionals” (Morrison 313). Toni Morrison asks why it seems like blacks are not allowed to know what they own.
Toni Morrison addresses traditional literature as being Eurocentric, and claims that European culture is the only culture which has been studied enough so as to be thought of as knowledge. Toni Morrison says that if people went back far enough into their own history they would find out that Europe was full of dark-skinned people but decided to call themselves white because whiteness gave them power.
Toni Morrison also questions how many Westerners have had contact with Africans outside of slavery, Toni Morrison says that contact is rare because Westerners are taught to think of Africans as victims, Toni Morrison states that the same victims who were being victimized by European slavers. Toni Morrison says that if a person does have contact with an African they may only see a refugee not knowing that the person is “a member of a people who have been inhabitants and cultivators of a continent for five thousand years” (Morrison 314).
Toni Morrison asks how Europeans can claim knowledge when they don’t even know what they have done. Toni Morrison says, “In order to understand where we are now, we must try to understand where we’ve been” (315) Toni Morrison echoes Tocqueville’s sentiment from Democracy in America, Toni Morrison says that African Americans are trying to define themselves not by their past but “in spite of their past” (315). Toni Morrison also states the dilemma of blacks who feel they must choose between identifying with Africa and identifying with Western civilization.
Toni Morrison presents one solution to this struggle: black nationalism. Toni Morrison claims that black nationalism will allow all races to communicate and understand each other because it uses knowledge as a foundation for communication among people. Toni Morrison’s purpose for writing “Black Matters” is to show how institutionalized racism has forced blacks into isolation, Toni Morisson wants people to understand that Black matters even though society does not treat them as such.
