USA TODAY International Edition
Toni Morrison’s storied life is ready for its close-up
Five fascinating things you may not know about the Nobel Prize-winning author
You may have read “Beloved,” clutched “The Bluest Eye” to your chest or memorized “Song of Solomon” – but do you know the history of Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison?❚ A new documentary, “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am” (in theaters Friday in New York and Los Angeles, expands through summer), seeks to demystify the acclaimed 88-year-old writer, digging into her personal history, showcasing how her work probes the interior lives of African Americans and highlighting the moments in her remarkable career that became touchstones. Here are five things you probably don’t know about Morrison, from how her friendship with Oprah Winfrey started to how she worked her magic on Muhammad Ali.
1. Toni Morrison worked as an editor for years while also writing her own books
Morrison began her career as a professor at Howard University, before spotting a classified ad in The New York Review of Books in 1965 for a book editor in Syracuse. That imprint soon was acquired by Random House, sending Morrison to New York, where the single mother of two sons nurtured many influential black writers, including Toni Cade Bambara, Gayl Jones and Lucille Clifton. But at night, she worked on her own books. “Editors are not writers. So I don’t tell anybody,” she says.
Fun fact: She convinced secretaries to type up her manuscript for 1970’s “The Bluest Eye” by baking the ladies one of her famous carrot cakes.
2. She was castigated by early critics for not writing about white people
In a 1973 review of “Sula,” The New York Times criticized Morrison, saying her work was boxed in by her insistence on writing about her own community – without including confrontation with whites. “Toni Morrison is far too talented to remain only a marvelous reporter of the black side of provincial American life,” wrote the critic.
In the documentary, Morrison addresses such claims. “I have had reviews in the past that have accused me of not writing about white people ... as though our lives have no meaning and no depth without the white gaze,” she says plainly. “I have spent my entire writing life trying to
make sure that the white gaze was not the dominant one in any of my books.”
3. She went on a book tour with Muhammad Ali
While promoting Ali’s book “The Greatest: My Own Story,” the two got off to a rocky start. “When I first met him and asked him a question, he would answer and look at a man and never looked directly at me while he was giving the answer. But then I remembered he respects older women,” Morrison recalls, saying she realized she should act more like his mother. “So I just crossed my arms as I walked in the room and said, ‘Ali, get up from there, you have something to do.’ And he would look up and recognize ... a grown-up. And from then on, he did everything I said,” she chuckles.
4. Oprah got creative trying to get her phone number
After reading “Beloved,” Oprah wanted to call Morrison personally, but the famous author’s number was unlisted. So the TV star called the fire department and asked for it.
Morrison remembers picking up the phone. “She said, ‘Toni Morrison, this is Oprah Winfrey.’ I said, ‘How did you get my number?’ “she laughs. Oprah made her plea to turn “Beloved” into a movie, ultimately convincing a skeptical Morrison. Oprah made the 1998 film and starred as Sethe, an escaped slave who murders her own daughter rather than see her child returned to a Kentucky plantation to live as a slave.
5. Morrison called time’s up on equal pay in the 1970s
“Navigating a white male world was not threatening; it wasn’t even interesting,” says Morrison candidly, recalling her first job as an editor. “I knew more than they did and I wasn’t afraid to show it. You have to be a little tough and rely on yourself, and tell people ‘no.’ ”
In her first job, the single mom noticed her male counterparts were getting more money when the raises were given out. “So I went to my boss and I said, ‘You didn’t raise me as much as my colleagues who are men.’ He said. ‘Yes, but.’ And I said, ‘I don’t want to hear ‘but.’ I want to tell you something: I am head of the household. Just. Like. You.”
She got the money.