This Black History Month, I’m sharing art, songs, movies, and other creative expressions from and about Black women that spark joy for me. Because Black women are often not remembered for their contributions, I thought this would be one way to give flowers to those who inspire me.
For Day 18, I’m giving flowers to the magnificent Toni Morrison on what would have been her 94th birthday.
Toni Morrison was born in Ohio and earned degrees from Howard University and Cornell University She wrote 11 books and countless essays and articles. In 1993, she became the first Black woman awarded the Nobel Prize.
Ms. Morrison could write, y’all. I first encountered Toni Morrison’s writing when I was in high school. I was fed up that our school curriculum was overflowing with books by white writers with no books from authors who looked like me. I became quite vocal about that frustration in English class, arguing daily that we should be reading other writers. Finally, after my parents and I had pleaded my case with administrators, I was allowed to read other books for class. My mom gave me The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison to read. It was Toni Morrison’s first book, and she said she wrote it because it was a book she wanted to read and it didn’t exist. Reading that book took my breath away. Toni Morrison’s stories about Black women and girls were everything I was missing from the curriculum created by my teachers.
Toni Morrison was a weaver of words, and she left behind so much wisdom for us. She tells the truth and shames the devil with such beauty, precision, and conviction that you are rocked to your core when you read it. I can only imagine what she would say about the shenanigans happening in 2025. I know some folks would be GATHERED.
In addition to being a phenomenal writer, Toni Morrison used her power to help propel the careers of other Black authors. Ms. Morrison was an editor at Random House and is credited for helping the careers of Angela Davis, Toni Cade Bambara, Gayl Jones, and Henry Dumas. Her approach to editing aimed to protect the writers she worked with, set them up for success, and treat them with abundant care. Her approach was the embodiment of solidarity in action.
In one of her essays in The Source of Self Regard, Morrison had advice for women about solidarity that is especially poignant right now:
“You are moving in the direction of freedom, and the function of freedom is to free somebody else. You are moving toward self-fulfillment, and the consequences of that fulfillment should be to discover that there is something just as important as you are and that just-as-important thing may be Cinderella—or your stepsister.
In your rainbow journey toward the realization of personal goals, don’t make choices based only on your security and your safety. Nothing is safe. That is not to say that anything ever was, or that anything worth achieving ever should be. Things of value seldom are. It is not safe to have a child. It is not safe to challenge the status quo. It is not safe to choose work that has not been done before. Or to do old work in a new way. There will always be someone there to stop you.
But in pursuing your highest ambitions, don’t let your personal safety diminish the safety of your stepsister. In wielding the power that is deservedly yours, don’t permit it to enslave your stepsisters. Let your might and your power emanate from that place in you that is nurturing and caring. Women’s rights is not only an abstraction, a cause; it is also a personal affair. It is not only about “us”; it is also about me and you. Just the two of us.”
Thank you, Toni Morrison, for creating worlds and stories where Black women and girls could see themselves and acting in solidarity with other Black writers so more stories could be told.
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