Toni Morrison (born Chloe Anthony Wofford) was an American novelist, editor, and professor. She was born in Lorain, Ohio in 1931 and was the second of four children. She earned a B.A. in English from Howard University in 1953 and an M.A. in English from Cornell University in 1955. Morrison was a professor at several universities, including Howard, Yale, and Princeton. She wrote 11 novels, including Beloved, Song of Solomon, and The Bluest Eye, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. She was also the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988. Morrison was a powerful voice in literature and a champion of civil rights. She passed away in 2019 at the age of 88.