Toni Morrison, 88, Passed Away

Toni Morrison, one of the most prolific writers of our time, reportedly died at Montefiore Medical Center in New York Monday night following a brief illness. She is said to have passed away peacefully, surrounded by family and friends.

Among her most widely known works are "Beloved" and "Song of Solomon," and Morrison became the first black woman to receive the Nobel literature prize. She also won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for "Beloved."

Though she was nearly 40 when her first novel was published, Morrison is acclaimed as instrumental in raising American multiculturalism to the world stage and helping uncensor the country's past. She saw race as a social construct and used language to create the better world her characters sought. Source.

While Morrison's name today is honored and she is revered for her work, let her life's story inspire us all.  She was a single mother who faced lots of rejection before and after publishing her first novel, and in the following two to three decades, she fulfilled her life's purpose, in that her legacy will be known for future generations.

Rest well, Nobel laureate. Rest well.