[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 173 (Thursday, October 31, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6343-S6344]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 402--HONORING THE LIFE, WORK, AND LEGACY OF TONI 
                                MORRISON

  Mr. BROWN (for himself and Mr. Portman) submitted the following 
resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 402

       Whereas Toni Morrison, born Chloe Ardelia Wofford on 
     February 18, 1931, in Lorain, Ohio, to George Wofford and 
     Ramah Willis Wofford, was a pioneering novelist, writer, 
     editor, and professor;
       Whereas Toni Morrison graduated from Lorain High School in 
     Lorain, Ohio, with honors in 1949;
       Whereas, in 1953, Toni Morrison graduated from Howard 
     University in Washington, D.C., with a bachelor of arts 
     degree in English and a minor in Classics;
       Whereas, in 1955, Toni Morrison graduated from Cornell 
     University in Ithaca, New York, with a master of arts degree 
     in English;
       Whereas, in 1955, Toni Morrison became a professor at Texas 
     Southern University in Houston, Texas;
       Whereas, from 1957 to 1964, Toni Morrison taught at Howard 
     University in Washington, D.C.;
       Whereas, from 1965 to 1968, Toni Morrison was a senior 
     editor with textbook publisher L.W. Singer in Syracuse, New 
     York;
       Whereas, from 1968 to 1983, Toni Morrison was the first 
     African-American woman senior editor in the history of Random 
     House, Inc., in New York City;
       Whereas, in 1970, Holt, Rhinehart and Winston published 
     ``The Bluest Eye'', the first novel by Toni Morrison;
       Whereas, in 1973, Knopf published the novel ``Sula'' by 
     Toni Morrison;
       Whereas, in 1975, Toni Morrison received the Ohioana Book 
     Award for ``Sula'', which was also nominated for the American 
     Book Award;
       Whereas, from 1975 to 1977, Toni Morrison was a visiting 
     professor at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut;
       Whereas, in 1977, Knopf published the novel ``Song of 
     Solomon'' by Toni Morrison, which was chosen as a Book-of-
     the-Month selection the same year;
       Whereas, in 1978, Toni Morrison received, for ``Song of 
     Solomon''--
       (1) the National Book Critics Circle Award;
       (2) the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters 
     Award;
       (3) the Oscar Micheaux Award; and
       (4) the Cleveland Arts Prize for Literature;
       Whereas, in 1979, Toni Morrison was awarded the Barnard 
     Medal of Distinction from Barnard College in New York City;
       Whereas, from 1979 to 1980, Toni Morrison was a 
     Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at Bard College in Annandale-
     on-Hudson, New York;
       Whereas, in 1980, Toni Morrison was appointed by President 
     Jimmy Carter to serve on the National Council on the Arts, a 
     position Morrison held through 1987;
       Whereas, in 1981--
       (1) Knopf published the novel ``Tar Baby'' by Toni 
     Morrison; and
       (2) Toni Morrison--
          (A) was elected to the American Academy of Arts and 
     Letters; and
          (B) received the Langston Hughes Award from the City 
     College of New York in New York City;
       Whereas, in 1983, ``Recitatif'', the only short story by 
     Toni Morrison, was published in ``Confirmations: An Anthology 
     of African American Women Writers'';
       Whereas, from 1983 to 1984, Toni Morrison was a 
     Distinguished Visiting Professor at Rutgers University in New 
     Brunswick, New Jersey;
       Whereas, from 1984 to 1989, Toni Morrison was the 
     Schweitzer Professor of the Humanities, College of the 
     Humanities and Fine Arts, at State University of New York in 
     Albany, New York;
       Whereas, in 1985, Toni Morrison joined the board of 
     trustees of the New York Public Library;
       Whereas, in 1986, Toni Morrison wrote ``Dreaming Emmett'', 
     an unpublished play commissioned by the New York State 
     Writers Institute, for which Morrison received the New York 
     State Governor's Arts Award the same year;
       Whereas, in 1987, Knopf published the novel ``Beloved'' by 
     Toni Morrison, a portrait of a woman haunted by the legacy of 
     slavery in post-Civil War Ohio, for which Morrison received 
     the Anisfield Wolf Book Award in Race Relations in 1988;
       Whereas, in 1988, Toni Morrison--
       (1) won the Pulitzer Prize for ``Beloved'';
       (2) received, for ``Beloved''--
          (A) the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award;
          (B) the Melcher Book Award; and
          (C) the Elmer Holmes Bobst Award for Fiction;
       (3) received the Ohioana Career Medal Award; and
       (4) delivered the Robert C. Tanner Lecture on Human Values 
     at the University of Michigan;
       Whereas, from 1989 to 2006, Toni Morrison was the Robert F. 
     Goheen Professor in the Council of the Humanities at 
     Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, where she was 
     recognized with emeritus status in 2006;
       Whereas, in 1990, Toni Morrison delivered--
       (1) the Massey Lectures at Harvard University;
       (2) the first Chazen Lecture at the University of 
     Wisconsin;
       (3) a Charter Lecture at the University of Georgia; and
       (4) the Clark Lectures at Trinity College in Cambridge, 
     England;
       Whereas, in 1991, Toni Morrison was awarded the Rosenberger 
     Medal at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois;
       Whereas, in 1992--
       (1) Knopf published the novel ``Jazz'' by Toni Morrison;
       (2) Pantheon published ``Race-ing Justice, 
     En-gendering Power: Essays on Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas, 
     and the Construction of Social Reality'', a collection edited 
     by Toni Morrison; and
       (3) Harvard University Press published ``Playing in the 
     Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination'' by Toni 
     Morrison;
       Whereas, in 1993, Toni Morrison--
       (1) received the honor of Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et 
     des Lettres, a prestigious award for distinguished 
     contributions to French and world culture;
       (2) became the first African-American woman to win the 
     Nobel Prize in Literature for being an author ``who in novels 
     characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives 
     life to an essential aspect of American reality'';
       (3) wrote the lyrics for the song cycle ``Honey and Rue'' 
     with composer Andre Previn for Kathleen Battle, a work 
     commissioned by Carnegie Hall; and
       (4) founded the Princeton Atelier, a studio arts program at 
     Princeton University that brings together students and 
     visiting artists to explore the collaborative creative 
     process;
       Whereas, in 1994, Toni Morrison--
       (1) received--
          (A) the Condorcet Medal from the Ecole Normale 
     Superierue in Paris, France; and
          (B) the Pearl Buck Award from the Pearl Buck Foundation;
       (2) held the International Condorcet Chair at the Ecole 
     Normale Superieure and the College de France in Paris, 
     France; and
       (3) wrote lyrics for ``Four Songs'' with composer Andre 
     Previn, which was performed by Sylvia McNair at Carnegie 
     Hall;
       Whereas, in 1996, Toni Morrison--
       (1) was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for 
     Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in New York 
     City;
       (2) was named the Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities by 
     the National Endowment for the Humanities; and
       (3) delivered the keynote address at the 250th Anniversary 
     Convocation of Princeton University;
       Whereas, in 1997, Toni Morrison--
       (1) co-edited ``Birth of a Nation'hood: Gaze, Script, and 
     Spectacle in the O.J. Simpson Case'', a collection of essays 
     on the O.J. Simpson case published by Pantheon; and
       (2) wrote the lyrics for ``Sweet Talk'' with composer 
     Richard Danielpour, which was performed by Jessye Norman at 
     Carnegie Hall;
       Whereas, from 1997 to 2003, Toni Morrison was the A.D. 
     White Professor-At-Large at Cornell University in Ithaca, New 
     York;
       Whereas, in 1998--
       (1) Knopf published the novel ``Paradise'' by Toni 
     Morrison; and
       (2) Toni Morrison wrote the lyrics for ``Spirits in the 
     Well'' with composer Richard Danielpour, which was performed 
     by Jessye Norman at Avery Fisher Hall;
       Whereas, in 1998--
       (1) the audio book ``Beloved'', which was recorded by Toni 
     Morrison, received a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word 
     Album; and
       (2) Toni Morrison delivered--
          (A) the Moffitt Lecture at Princeton University; and
          (B) the Berliner Lektionen at the Theater Berlin;
       Whereas, in 1999, Toni Morrison--
       (1) received the Ohioana Book Award for Fiction; and
       (2) co-authored with her son, Slade Morrison, ``The Big 
     Box'', which was published by Hyperion;
       Whereas, in 2000, Toni Morrison--
       (1) wrote the lyrics for ``woman.life.song'' with composer 
     Judith Weir, which was performed by Jessye Norman at Carnegie 
     Hall; and
       (2) was awarded the National Humanities Medal;
       Whereas, in 2001, Toni Morrison--
       (1) received--
          (A) the Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts; 
     and
          (B) the Cavore Prize in Turin, Italy;

[[Page S6344]]

       (2) was honored at the Fete du Livre organized by Les 
     Ecritures Croisees at the Cite du Livre in Aix-en-Provence, 
     France; and
       (3) delivered a lecture at a lecture series sponsored by 
     the United Nations Secretary General;
       Whereas, in 2002, Toni Morrison--
       (1) delivered the Alexander Lectures at the University of 
     Toronto; and
       (2) wrote the libretto for ``Margaret Garner'' with 
     composer Richard Danielpour, an opera that was co-
     commissioned by--
          (A) the Michigan Opera Theatre;
          (B) the Cincinnati Opera; and
          (C) the Opera Company of Philadelphia;
       Whereas, in 2003--
       (1) Toni Morrison received the Docteur Honoris Causa from 
     the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, France; and
       (2) Knopf published the novel ``Love'' by Toni Morrison;
       Whereas, in 2004, Toni Morrison--
       (1) delivered the Amnesty International Lecture in 
     Edinburgh, Scotland;
       (2) received the ``Arts and Communities'' award from the 
     Academy of Culture in Paris, France; and
       (3) received the Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work 
     in Fiction from the National Association for the Advancement 
     of Colored People;
       Whereas, in 2005, Toni Morrison--
       (1) received--
          (A) the Du Bois Medal from the W.E.B. DuBois Institute 
     in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and
          (B) the Coretta Scott King Award from the American 
     Library Association; and
       (2) was awarded a doctor of letters from Oxford University 
     in Oxford, England;
       Whereas, in 2006--
       (1) the New York Times rated ``Beloved'' by Toni Morrison 
     as the ``Best Work of American Fiction of the Last 25 
     Years''; and
       (2) Toni Morrison--
          (A) through the ``Grand Invite'' program of the Musee du 
     Louvre in Paris, France, was the Guest Curator of the Musee 
     du Louvre; and
          (B) was named a Life Trustee of the New York Public 
     Library;
       Whereas, in 2007, Toni Morrison was awarded--
       (1) the Docteur Honoris Causa from the Universite Paris 
     Sorbonne - Paris IV in Paris, France; and
       (2) the Radcliffe Institute Medal from the Radcliffe 
     Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University in 
     Cambridge, Massachusetts;
       Whereas, in 2008, Knopf published the novel ``A Mercy'' by 
     Toni Morrison;
       Whereas, in 2010, Toni Morrison received the Chevalier 
     Ordre National de la L'egion d'honneur, the highest national 
     order of merit in France;
       Whereas, in 2011, Toni Morrison wrote the play 
     ``Desdemona'', which premiered in Vienna, Austria;
       Whereas, in 2012--
       (1) Toni Morrison delivered the Ingersoll Lecture at the 
     Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts;
       (2) Knopf published the novel ``Home'' by Toni Morrison; 
     and
       (3) President Barack Obama awarded the Presidential Medal 
     of Freedom, the highest civilian honor of the United States, 
     to Toni Morrison for her literary work and legacy as ``one of 
     our nation's most celebrated novelists'';
       Whereas, in 2014, Toni Morrison received the Ivan Sandrof 
     Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Book Critics 
     Circle;
       Whereas, in 2015, Knopf published the novel ``God Help the 
     Child'' by Toni Morrison;
       Whereas, in 2016--
       (1) Toni Morrison was the Charles E. Norton Professor at 
     Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts;
       (2) the American Academy of Arts and Sciences awarded Toni 
     Morrison the Emerson-Thoreau Medal for ``her distinguished 
     achievement in the field of literature''; and
       (3) Toni Morrison received the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for 
     Achievement in American Fiction;
       Whereas, in 2017--
       (1) Harvard University Press published ``The Origin of 
     Others'' by Toni Morrison, which was based on the Charles 
     Eliot Norton Lectures presented by Morrison at Harvard 
     University in 2016;
       (2) Toni Morrison delivered the keynote address at the 
     Princeton Slavery Project Symposium; and
       (3) Princeton University dedicated the naming of Morrison 
     Hall in honor of Toni Morrison, who was the Robert F. Goheen 
     Professor in the Humanities, Emeritus, at Princeton 
     University;
       Whereas, in 2019--
       (1) Knopf published ``The Source of Self-Regard: Selected 
     Essays, Speeches, and Meditations'' by Toni Morrison; and
       (2) the American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded Toni 
     Morrison a Gold Medal for distinguished achievement in the 
     field of literature;
       Whereas the invaluable contributions of Toni Morrison to 
     literature in the United States during a career that spanned 
     more than 5 decades will inform generations of authors, 
     scholars, teachers, and students in the United States and 
     around the world; and
       Whereas, on August 5, 2019, at the age of 88, Toni Morrison 
     died, leaving a legacy of a visionary literature that--
       (1) is extraordinary for the freshness of its narrative 
     strategies and procedures; and
       (2) is dedicated to dramatizing the complex humanity and 
     art of Black people: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) extends heartfelt sympathy to the family of Toni 
     Morrison on the occasion of her death;
       (2) recognizes Toni Morrison as--
       (A) one of the most formidable scholars, educators, and 
     authors of the United States; and
       (B) a writer of the stature of other great literary figures 
     of the United States, such as--
       (i) Nathaniel Hawthorne;
       (ii) Ralph Waldo Emerson;
       (iii) Herman Melville;
       (iv) Walt Whitman;
       (v) Mark Twain; and
       (vi) William Faulkner;
       (3) honors the life of Toni Morrison and the achievements 
     of Toni Morrison in humanities and literature; and
       (4) expresses deep appreciation for the exceptional and 
     vital work of Toni Morrison, including--
       (A) the vehemence of the work;
       (B) the uncensored exploration of race in the United States 
     that the work presented; and
       (C) the enduring impact the work has had, and will continue 
     to have, on the United States.

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