An Evening with Toni Morrison

"Please welcome a prolific writer, a vibrant intellectual, and a wonderful person, Professor Toni Morrison." As the audience stood up and applauded after Dr. Reed's introduction, the guest speaker, dressed in black and gray with a tan hat adorning her silver dread locs, was slowly escorted to the plush purple chair in the center of the stage. Wearing a big grin on her face and dazzling appreciation in her eyes, Professor Morrison took her seat and began a conversation about her career, writing and racism.

Toni Morrison spent an evening with a packed Lisner Auditorium Wednesday. An assortment of GW departments and organizations sponsored the event, including the office of the Provost, the Gelman Research Center and MSSC. Many of the attendees were GW students.

"She pushes us to think about the jagged edges of our experiences," said Reed. "She is a master teacher."

Taking her audience back through time, Morrison's desire to be among black intellectuals brought her to Howard University in Washington, DC in 1949. For her, the most exciting place as a college student was in the theater because they "read plays to understand the scenes, characters, and relationships." Morrison admitted she was not any good with acting, but she still reads plays for pleasure.

She then fastforwarded to the time she was a professor at Howard University. It was at this time she wrote the first version of "The Bluest Eye," around eight to nine pages about a girl who prayed for blue eyes. Morrison revealed that the subject of the story was a girl she was very close to when she was younger who she quarreled with about whether or not there was a God. The girl proclaimed there was not a God because she had prayed for blue eyes for two years and had yet to receive them. Morrison remebered thinking, "Suppose she had gotten them, how grotesque they would be," causing the audience to burst into laughter.

"I'm very happy when I'm writing," said Morrison, "spiritually, intellectually, language does that for me."

For her novel "A Mercy," Morrison had to "go back in time before racism was established and institutionalized" to develop her idea, which she found in the Salem Witch Trials of the 17th Century. She then read the opening and the ending of the book. Even though the audience was already quiet, a hush came over the auditorium as she started to read. With her laid back yet still vibrant voice, the story came alive as she painted an image with her words.

After ten minutes of storytelling, Morrison announced the completion of her latest work, entitled "Home." She read directly from the manuscript, giving the audience a sneek peak of her latest unpublished work.

Responding to a question about racial barriers in American politics and the election of Barack Obama, Morrison said, "Racism pays, it's useful, and it works," and commented that having a black president does not change that.

A GW senior asked Morrison her thoughts on the current banned book list for public schools.

"Everything worth reading is banned by somebody in these schools," she replied, jokingly adding that a Texas Correctional Institue that banned "Beloved" because it "might start a prison riot." 

"I love listening to her talk," said junior English major Sarah Perillo. "It's so inviting."

Some students had the opportunity to have dinner with Professor Morrison back stage at Lisner Auditorium.

"She's a really nice lady and very easy to talk to," said junior Africana Studies major Shelbie Atkins.

Other students shared a few words with Professor Morrison at the F Street House before the event.

"I asked her what her inspiration was for Beloved," said junior Public Health major Janel Coleman, "and she talked about women's rights. Basically during the 80s women tried to reclaim their bodies by not having kids, so in Beloved the slave woman reclaimed her body by having kids and killing them."

The Toni Morrison Society and GW dedicated a bench outside Lisner Auditorium in honor of Ms. Morrison's struggles and the 1947 integration of the venue.