On this historic day, February 18, 1931, the American author Toni Morrison was born in Ohio

American author and Nobel laureate Toni Morrison was born on this day in history, February 18, 1931.

Morrison was born in Lorain, Ohio, the second of four children, and was given the birth name Chloe Anthony Wofford, according to the National Women’s History Museum.

As a child, Morrison focused on her studies and became an avid reader.

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She was a member of her school’s debating team and yearbook staff, and later became library director at the Lorain Public Library.

Morrison converted to Catholicism at the age of 12 and was baptized Anthony after Saint Anthony of Padua – nicknamed Toni, reports the National Women’s History Museum.

Author Toni Morrison speaks at a Newsday book and author luncheon at the Huntington Town House on October 18, 1977 in Huntington, New York. (J. Michael Dombroski/Newsday RM via Getty Images)

In 1949, Morrison moved to Washington, DC to attend Howard University, a historically black college.

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Morrison toured the then-racially segregated South frequently with the university’s theater company, the Howard University Players.

Morrison received her bachelor’s degree in English and continued her education at Cornell University, where she earned her Master of Arts in English.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison is photographed in New York City in 1979. (Jack Mitchell/Getty Images)

After graduating in 1955, Morrison taught English at Texas Southern University but then returned to teach at Howard University.

Upon returning to her alma mater, Morrison tutored civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael and met her husband, Harold Morrison.

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Morrison taught at Howard for seven years before accepting a position as a textbook editor at Random House in Syracuse, New York.

Two years later, Morrison moved to the company’s New York office and began editing fiction and books written by black authors.

Novelist Toni Morrison discusses her plans to write plays on December 23, 1985 in Albany, New York. (Getty Images)

In 1970, at the age of 39, Morrison published her first book, The Bluest Eye.

That book was followed by her second novel, Sula, in 1977, and her third, Song of Solomon, which made Morrison a household name, according to the museum.

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In 1987, Morrison published her novel Beloved, based on the true story of an enslaved woman.

This book was a bestseller for 25 weeks – and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Nobel laureate Toni Morrison ((front, in black dress) accepts the applause of partygoers Susan Taylor, Rita Dove, Oprah Winfrey, Angela Davis, Maya Angelou and others in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. (Will and Deni McIntyre/Getty Images)

Morrison was the first black woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993.

Three years later, she was also honored with the National Book Foundation’s Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

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Beloved was filmed in 1998, starring Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Thandiwe Newton and Kimberly Elise.

While pursuing her writing career, Morrison worked as a professor in the Creative Writing Program at Princeton University and wrote children’s books with her son.

U.S. author Toni Morrison smiles in her office at Princeton University in New Jersey while being interviewed by reporters October 7, 1993. (DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images)

Morrison received an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford, according to the museum, and has been consistently praised for her work.

In 2000, the Library of Congress proclaimed Morrison a living legend, reports the National Women’s History Museum.

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She also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 — the same month she published her last book with her son.

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Morrison died of complications from pneumonia on August 5, 2019 in New York.