Four Fascinating Facts About Toni Morrison’s Ties to the Schomburg Center

The United States Postal Service recently released a Forever Stamp honoring literary legend, activist, and former Life Trustee of The New York Public Library Toni Morrison. Her writings discuss the horrific impact of slavery, racism, and sexual abuse, plus spark conversations on equality.

Morrison (1931–2019) has achieved the rare feat of receiving the Pulitzer Prize (1988), the Nobel Prize for Literature (1993, the first African American woman to win), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2012). 

As the newest tribute brings new engagement and re-discovery of Morrison’s books, find out four fascinating facts about the novelist, her ties to the Schomburg Center, and materials about her in the Center's collections.

“‘The Bluest Eye’ is just closed and while your magic is still living here around me, I’m obliged to write you,” stated scholar, poet, filmmaker, and writer Maya Angelou in a 1971 letter of Morrison. “Your book is so great, your perception so deep and clear and your poetry—ah your poetry while reading, no better, being in your book, I was entranced, hypnotized yet aware. Now, that's magic."

The book tells the story of Pecola Breedlove, an 11-year-old Black girl, who prays to be blond and blue-eyed believing it will free her from the abuse in her life and that her family will love her.

“I have been late reading Beloved because I’ve been struggling to finish a screen play–T.V. movie,” wrote Angelou in a 1987 handwritten letter to Morrison about her novel. “I knew if I cracked the first page, you’d have me and there would be no letting go.” 

"I loved Beloved and I love you," she wrote.

The novel, which won 1988's Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, tells the story of formerly enslaved Sethe whose home is haunted by the ghost of the infant daughter she killed to save her from enslavement.

The letters are located in box 33, folder 31 of Angelou’s collection in the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division. 

If you would like to read the text that inspired Dr. Angelou’s (1927-2009) letter about The Bluest Eye, the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division (MIRS) holds the audiobook. Morrison narrates the story along with award-winning actress Ruby Dee.

If you are inspired to read more of the Pulitzer Prize winner’s work, MIRS also has 1977’s Song of Solomon in an audio format. Morrison narrates as well.

Imagine a book written by James Baldwin (1924-1987) and edited by Toni Morrison. The two mulled over ways to bring this collaboration together during her years as an editor at Random House. There, she made history as the publishing house's first woman African American editor. 

“I am extremely excited about meeting you and discussing the possibility of some future work together,” wrote Morrison in a 1973 letter to Baldwin. 

“Aside from the obvious desire to ‘edit’ someone who is still the most articulate and gifted writer around, I am most anxious for you to be in good hands—be properly published, elegantly promoted, comfortably handled,” she continued.

“In short, to have the easeful and profitable publishing circumstances you deserve.” 

The inquiry sparked letters and telegrams between them for two years. MARB holds their correspondence. The papers are part of Baldwin’s collection located in box 3b, folder 5.

Although the world never got to read a book released under such an epic partnership, their letters are a treasure trove for researchers.

Founded in 1993, the Toni Morrison Society consists of scholars and supporters who study Morrison’s writings. Their program Bench by the Road gifts locations important to African American history with a bench in the author’s honor. There, people can sit and reflect on the lives of those who were enslaved. The Society awarded the Center with its 20th bench in 2016. Morrison attended the ceremony and it is available to view online.

In the late spring and summer months, visitors can sit on the bench in the Center’s courtyard. At other times of the year, it’s located in the building’s lobby. 

“This institution is a monument to and a repository of Black heritage,” the author said during an announcement of the Center’s launch of a capital campaign as part of its 60th-anniversary celebration. “By that I mean, its civilizations, its art, its sorrow, its ferocity, its humiliations, and its genius. And, there is no one in America, in the world, I think, who would not benefit from more than a passing acquaintance with this institution.” 

“The wisdom of the grios is here,” she said. “Songs I heard my great grandmother sing are here. Stories my uncles and great uncles told me are here. And, so is Phillis Wheatley, Equiano, and Paul Lawrence Dunbar and Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen and Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Paul Robeson, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and the words of people whose names nobody knows at all.”

Morrison co-chaired the committee with acclaimed actor Ossie Davis (1917-2005). Their goal was to raise $14.5 million by 1990. Other speakers included then Director of the Schomburg Center Howard Dodson, Mayor Edward Koch, and NYPL President Vartan Gregorian. The event included a performance by The Harlem Opera Society. MIRS has the 1987 program on three discs.

NYPL named Morrison a Literary Lion in 1982, a board member in 1986, and a Life Trustee in 2006. She served in the role until her death in 2019.

Recent blog posts by Lisa Herndon:

• Schomburg Center Holds Personal Photos, Writings & More of Harry Belafonte
• Books, Photos & Writings of Arturo Schomburg Featured in Upcoming Exhibition at The Met
• Sheroes in the Schomburg Center’s Collections
• The Exonerated Five: An In-Depth Look at Their Journey to Justice
• 4 Occasions Arturo Schomburg Inspired American & African Diasporic Culture
• The Top 2s of 2022

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