Toni Morrison: Queen of the Black Gaze

Madalyn McKnight
Aug 9, 2019
2 min read

Chloe Ardelia Winford changed my life. She was gigantic and beautiful. You may know her as Toni Morrison. As of August 5, physical presence is gone, but her spirit and legacy live on forever. I was assigned Beloved in high school and her work introduced me the essence of being a woman. Now that I am a writer and expressing myself, I look up to her even more. Her work was intentional and had purpose. Every move she made was impactful and she realized how powerful her voice was; and used her pain and experiences to tell stories that changed the world. She was an unapologetic activist, who knew about the strength that lies in pigmentation. She was a mother, an inspiration and a champion for education. The light of the world is indeed dimmer, because she will never contribute another original work.

But her past works are a testimony to a career and legacy that was bigger than her flesh and bones. As serious as her body of work is, she was a woman who knew who how to have fun. Some of my favorite images of her, are of her at dance parties she attended, seeing her relax and be carefree prove to me how dynamic she was. She understood the importance of balance. She wrote from the black experience for the black experience, telling an interviewer, who asked about her incorporation of white characters,

“You can’t understand how powerfully racist that question is, can you? Cause you could never ask a white author, when are you gonna write about black people?”

The dumbfoundness on the interviewer’s face was telling. That is why Ms. Morrison kept her gaze on the black audience. That is why she was the queen of ensuring black men and women feel seen for their perfections in spite of their flaws. I am going to make it my business to read the other 10 novels she published in her lifetime, along with other writings. Writing was a way for her to escape and be truly free to create her own world and that is true for me. She also called her writing, pure knowledge and the clarity writing gives astounds me every time. She wasn’t traditional, she wasn’t polished. And I aspire to be the same and do the same.