Toni Morrison was an African American female author born in Wofford, Ohio, in 1931 (The Most Influential American Author”, 2019). Throughout her lifetime, she wrote multiple novels that gained large popularity – mainly due to the fact that not many authors during the 20th century wrote considering the perspective of the black female. Her novels exposed the overall experience of an African American individual living in America during slavery and post-slavery; this perspective helped many Americans gain insight on a topic that has otherwise been invisible to the majority (The Most Influential American Author”, 2019).

There are many famous works of American literature that have centralized on the topic of racism and discrimination (such as To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee), however, most of these novels draw from the perspective of a white man. To add, it is usually the white man who contributes to “solving” racism. This is where the influence and impact Toni Morisson’s works have on our American literature society – having the person whose struggle is the central topic of a work have their perspective shown gives readers a much more three-dimensional understanding of the problem being written about.

Reading a work of Morrsion’s, such as her short story “Recitatif”, can help to convey this idea better. Readers can see that the two main characters in the story – Twyla and Roberta – are of different races (perhaps white and black), because at a point in the story, Twyla expresses her discomfort of rooming with “a girl of a whole other race” in her new orphanage. Additionally, Twyla is seen as being “different” from the other girls at the orphanage because she was “dumped” – not because her parents passed away. These differences between Twyla and the other girls helps to point out how different races are treated differently and have different experiences. 

Having such a unique set of work compared to other authors during her time, and having her be of the same race as the character’s whose perspectives she writes from, makes Toni Morrison’s works of literature stand out. Her works have shed light upon the perspective of being an African American female in America; this brings about important effects of opening up the conversation that racism is still deeply rooted in our system and that it is not right to be bystanders of such an issue in America. 

Margalit Fox. (August 6, 2019). Toni Morrison, Towering Novelist of the Black Experience, Dies at 88. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/06/books/toni-morrison-dead.html

The most influential American author of her generation, Toni Morrison’s writing was racially ambiguous. (August 7, 2019). Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/the-most-influential-american-author-of-her-generation-toni-morrisons-writing-was-radically-ambiguous-121557