Toni Morrison's Lorain

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This article describes the joy and excitement when Toni Morrison won Pulitzer prize in 1988 with her novel, Beloved. Sean Loughlin interviewed various Lorainites including the author's mother who fondly remember the author's younger days in Lorain. This article was published on April 1, 1988, in the Lorain Journal.

Lorain--”Beloved,” the title of Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer-Prize wining novel, may well describe the feelings, friends and family have for the hometown girls who made it big.

“She went a step beyond my dream,” said childhood friend Doris Jeans. “I just didn’t permit myself to think that far.”

Yesterday, Ms. Morrison, 57, won the nation’s highest literary award for “Beloved,” a moving account of one woman’s life and her daughter’s tragic death in post-Civil War Ohio.

Her mother, Ella Ramah Wofford, who lives on West 21st Street, was trying yesterday afternoon to reach Mr. Morrison. “I’ve been trying to get her, but her line’s been busy, busy, busy,” Mrs. Wofford, 81, said.

Reached at her upstate New York home later, Ms. Morrison was happy, happy, happy.

“I’m happier than I expected I’d be,” said a giddy Ms. Morrison, and hour after learning of her award. “It makes me feel as though I served my characters well, that I did them justice. … Public acclamation of that effort is always nice.”

In Lorain, where Ms. Morrison grew up and where most of her family still live, friends celebrated her honor. They remembered a young girl from Elyria Avenue who loved cashew nuts, sand in the church choir, had slumber parties, recited poetry and daydreamed. They remembered someone special.

“We just had everyday fun for small-town kids,” said Mrs. Jeans, 57, who attended Lorain High School with Ms. Morrison. “After school, we would go to the store and get some cashew nuts. We didn’t have nothing but a dime, but we’d pool our money together. They were so good.”

Mrs. Jeans, of 1614 Lehigh Ave., said her friend did not write much during school, but she always excelled in her work. “In fact, she was always advanced for her age,” Mrs. Jean said. “We always told her she would be something special.”

That specialness began to show years later when Ms. Morrison let her imagination soar and her words flow in critically acclaimed novels. Her painful account of a young black girl’s coming of age in a city called Lorain, Ohio.

Two independent filmmakers, formerly of Lorain and now living in New York City, are trying to make a movie of that book. Several agencies in Lorain, including City Council, contributed money to that project, which is still years from completion.

Victorian Larimore, who this week was in Lorain to discuss the project with some supporters, said a first draft of the script had been completed. Meanwhile, Ms. Morrison said legal battles with the publisher over the rights to the novel could delay production.

but the attention yesterday was on Ms. Morrison’s latest novel.

“ ‘Oh my.’ That’s what I said when I read that book,” said Ms. Morrison’s sister, Louis Brooks, 58, of 4556 Clifton Ave. “I was really just in awe.”

Ms. Morrison said she would probably visit home this summer. Her friends will be waiting for her.

“I haven’t seen her lately,” said Angie Shorts, of 1509 W. 22nd St. Mrs. Shorts, 58, also attended school with Ms. Morrison. “But I knew if anybody was going to be a star, she was the one.”