Toni was born on February 18, 1931 in Lorain, Ohio, a steel town twenty-five miles west of Cleveland, where she grew up most of her early life (Colby). She was born Chloe Anthony Wofford. Her parents Ramah and George Wofford were not poor, but were a black working class family. She was the second of four children. Her father was a shipyard welder. Her parents moved to Ohio hoping to find better opportunities and to escape the racist attitudes. She was brought up to be proud of her heritage. This is where she heard many songs and tales of Southern black folklore. She displayed an early interest in literature.

When she went to a school in first grade she was the only black student and she was the only one that could read. She was friends with many of the white students and it was when she got older that she was discriminated against (www.cob…).

In 1964 she took a job with Random House in Syracuse, New York as an associate editor. She had to work all day and her sons were taken care of by a housekeeper. She would write when they were asleep.

She was appointed Robert F. Goheen Professor of the Council of the humanities at Princeton University in the spring of 1989. She has been a chair at Princeton University since 1989 (www.nobel…).

At Howard she met Harold Morrison who was an architect. They got married in 1958 and had a son named Harold who was born in 1961. She continued teaching while raising a family. She was unhappy in her married life so she joined a small writer’s group. She had to bring a story or poem for discussion. One week she wrote about a girl she knew in childhood who had prayed to God for blue eyes.

She was pregnant with their second child when she left her husband, quit her job at the university, and went to Europe. She divorced her husband and went to her parents’ house in Lorain with her two sons (www.cob…).

Some topics in this essay:
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