A Rose By Any Other Name:
Toni Morrison ✅
An American life in three (3) chapters
Chapter 1:
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”🌹
— William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, 1597
Did you know?
Did you know that “Toni” wasn’t author Toni Morrison’s real first name but, in fact, a pen one? (Chloe being her true birth name)
*footnote:1
“That’s right. And I have separated those people. Myself is kind of split. My name is Chloe. And the rest is that other person.”
— Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison was born Chloe Ardelia Wofford (Feb. 18, 1931), who grew up in the Midwest (Lorain, Ohio), and, unbeknownst to many, was a practicing Catholic for the vast majority of her life.
😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇
*footnote:2
Believe it or not, “Toni” (short for Anthony) was a nickname given as a result of her Catholic baptismal at age twelve.
footnote:3
Chloe and her parents (in the Catholic tradition of choosing a Saint’s name during a Catholic baptism) choose Anthony (of Padua) for Chloe’s baptismal name.
Anthony of Padua was a popular Saint of the 13th century, a Portuguese priest and friar, noted for his extensive knowledge of scripture and powerhouse preaching, even to fish!
*footnote:4
The nickname, “Toni,” (short for Anthony) struck a chord, replacing Chloe as a commonly used first name amongst friends and acquaintances. The rest, they say, is history.
Chapter 2:
“What’s in a name?”
But what of Toni’s last name, Morrison?
Toni Morrison was briefly married to Harold Morrison (from 1958 - 1964), a Jamaican-born architect.
Together, the couple had two sons: Harold (Ford) Morrison and Slade (Kevin) Morrison.
Pregnant with her second son (Slade) during the couple’s divorce, Toni Morrison decided to keep her married name out of respect for her sons and, ultimately, her ex-husband, Harold.
*footnote:5
“I meant to put my maiden name in the first book I wrote, as a matter of fact. But I called the publisher and said, oh, by the way, I don’t want Toni Morrison to be on the book. And they said, it’s too late. They’ve already sent it to the Library of Congress. But I really would have preferred Toni Wofford.”
— Toni Morrison
Chapter 3:
“Heavy is the head that wears the crown.”👑
— William Shakespeare, Henry IV, 1597
Toni Morrison published her first novel (The Bluest Eye) in 1970 (at age 39), six years after divorce.
*footnote:6
The novel achieved moderate success (in terms of book sales) but was a critical darling among the literary community, as Morrison’s talent was undeniable.
Eighteen years later (in 1988), Morrison would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (for her fifth novel, Beloved), and in 1993, she became the first Black woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature
In 1996, a powerhouse interview on Oprah’s Book Club helped further catapult Toni Morrison’s writings into the cultural zeitgeist.
“I decided to write down . . . what I thought if I didn’t do, I’d die . . . and there were only two things . . . one, mother my children, two, write books.”
— Toni Morrison
Sadly, fourteen years after experiencing the pinnacle of success (as a living writer), Toni Morrison endured the nightmare scenario of any parent, having to bury her child (at age 79), as her youngest, Slade, passed away from cancer in 2010 at age 45. He, too, was an author.
*footnote:7
Publishing her final novel (God Help the Child) in 2015, she would later join Slade with the Lord in 2019 (at age 88), nine years after his passing, ultimately, having written and published over a dozen books during her lifetime.
*footnote:8
Therefore, today, whether we call her Toni or Chloe, Morrison (or Wofford), she is forever considered a titan of 20th century American literature—a rose by any other name.
*footnote:9
(Image: The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honor, presented by President Obama to recipient Toni Morrison in 2012. She was 81.)
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