> In 1993, Toni Morrison became the first African-American woman to win whichaward?And the answer: Nobel Prize. Photo credit: Deborah Feingold/Corbis/Getty Images.Born in 1931 with the nameChloe Anthony Wofford, Toni Morrison was a critically acclaimed author whoseworks examined the Black experience in America. In 1988, she won the PulitzerPrize for her novel Beloved, and five years later she gained worldwiderecognition when she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.The life and legacy of Toni Morrison is impossible to encapsulate in just a fewwords. The profound effects of her writing are pervasive and powerful – hervoice has irrevocably changed the course of American discourse. Morrisonprovokes the American cultural consciousness to confront the horrors of the pastso that change might find its footing in the future.Morrison, born Chloe Wofford, grew up in Lorain, Ohio, in the 1930s. Sheattended Howard University before earning her Masters degree from CornellUniversity. In 1967, as a single mother of two, Morrison got a job as a SeniorEditor at Random House Publishing. Two years later, she released her firstnovel, The Bluest Eye. Written from a perspective in which the main character isforced to constantly compare herself to white standards of beauty, Morrisonpointed to the urgency of unlearning cultural assumptions and norms assumed tobe fact. Her next novel, Sula, won her a nomination for the National Book Award.In this novel, Morrison examines the effects of one Black woman's creative,unconventional rebellion with striking humor, complexity and heartbreak. Song of Solomon won Morrison the National Book Critics' Circle Award, andbrought her into the mainstream. In 1988, Morrison created the NobelPrize-winning work Beloved. Exploring the psychological effects of slavery onthe African-American mind (among many other complex themes), Beloved was thefirst eloquent, moving work in American literature to center aroundAfrican-American life and experience. In 2006, the New York Times named Beloved the best work of American fiction of the past 25 years. By placing Black female subjectivity at the center of her work, Morrison gavevoice to many that had never before seen themselves in works of greatliterature. Morrison lives on in her body of work, many of which continue to berevered today. Learn more about Beloved below.