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YTS.MX
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She is a friend of my mind.
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It brings me together.
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The parts that I am...
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...she brings them together...
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...and he gives them back to me
in the correct order.
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It's good...
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...when you have a woman
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which is a friend of your mind.
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My grandfather always boasted
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who had read the Bible
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00:02:04,470 --> 00:02:06,530
five times from start to finish.
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HOLY BIBLE
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I thought:
"Why do you always read that book?"
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Then I realized
that there were no other books.
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And it was illegal in his life...
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...read, and it was illegal
that white people taught them
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black children to read,
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so it was something revolutionary.
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00:02:34,300 --> 00:02:38,635
and that feeling
that it was controversial...
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...penetrated our house
although I didn't understand why
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so early.
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Then I understood.
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My sister taught me to read
when I was three years old.
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And we used to kneel
on the sidewalk...
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...with a stone...
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...and we wrote...
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...cat, dog, I hate you...
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...or "and I hate"
because we didn't know the "T."
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One day, we saw
another word on the street,
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half a block,
and we decided to write it.
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we meet
and we expand our vocabulary.
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We write: "M"...
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...and we look there.
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"I"..
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...and we were getting ready
to write the E
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00:03:37,430 --> 00:03:39,422
when my mother ran away
of the house...
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...and began to scream.
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«What's wrong with them?».
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I was furious.
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"You, look for a bucket of water."
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"You, bring a broom."
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00:03:49,842 --> 00:03:51,640
and we were crying
because we didn't know
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what had happened we had to
get rid of the words...
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00:03:55,047 --> 00:03:58,916
...and he didn't say the word,
It didn't say what it was...
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...never did.
In all my life...
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00:04:01,888 --> 00:04:03,288
I don't know how old I was
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00:04:03,389 --> 00:04:04,880
when I found out what it meant.
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00:04:06,526 --> 00:04:08,859
And he never told us what it was.
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But I finally knew...
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...that words have power.
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The words
They can do that to my mother,
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a word I don't even know.
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That's strength.
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I get up before dawn.
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I always get up early.
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I want to beat the sun,
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00:04:45,932 --> 00:04:48,561
so I must be up
before it comes out.
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It's the best time.
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00:04:52,605 --> 00:04:55,734
It's incredible that part of the day.
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00:04:59,078 --> 00:05:01,638
I am very smart
early in the morning.
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00:05:02,748 --> 00:05:03,977
Then...
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00:05:05,718 --> 00:05:09,814
What? But early,
I'm very good. Very sensitive.
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00:05:11,457 --> 00:05:14,655
Every morning,
I work three or four hours.
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00:05:21,434 --> 00:05:24,529
I got up early to write
because he had small children.
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00:05:25,471 --> 00:05:27,633
If I got up at five
before they woke up,
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00:05:27,840 --> 00:05:28,967
I could work a little.
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00:05:30,643 --> 00:05:32,635
Then the children
they grew up and left,
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00:05:32,745 --> 00:05:34,407
and I still got up at that time,
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00:05:34,614 --> 00:05:38,051
but I was reluctant
unable and unwilling
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writing after lunch...
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00:05:41,654 --> 00:05:42,849
...or at night.
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00:05:43,122 --> 00:05:45,387
The only time that
I really wanted to do it
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00:05:45,625 --> 00:05:47,594
and it was good, I believed,
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00:05:47,927 --> 00:05:50,123
It was very early in the morning.
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It's still like that.
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Sometimes, you are animated,
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00:05:57,670 --> 00:06:00,105
and other times,
You're just looking for something.
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00:06:01,007 --> 00:06:03,567
So that the writing
I find it interesting,
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00:06:04,076 --> 00:06:08,138
not only do you have to write,
but it is: "I don't know what this means,
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00:06:08,681 --> 00:06:11,708
but i have to find out
and explore
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everyone's attitudes
the characters,” and stuff like that.
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00:06:14,987 --> 00:06:17,547
I must know.
I really must know.
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And the only way to know,
and possess what I know
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is writing it...
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...and then let you read it.
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So we both know.
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When you read the first reviews
of Toni's work,
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those first reviews
liberal and compassionate,
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00:06:35,174 --> 00:06:37,006
I remember one of them about Sula...
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A NOVEL
BY TONI MORRISON 1973
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...and the critic says:
«He has a lot of talent.
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Someday, it won't limit you
to write about black people.
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00:06:43,482 --> 00:06:44,609
UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR
FROM COLUMBIA
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Is it limiting for her?
write about blacks?
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Nobody says that when
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an irish writer
writes about Irish.
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00:06:50,456 --> 00:06:52,755
It's just limiting
when you write about black people.
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NEW YORK, SUNDAY,
DECEMBER 30, 1973
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"Despite his wealth
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and its absolute originality,
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00:07:02,802 --> 00:07:06,466
one continually feels
its limitation...
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00:07:08,641 --> 00:07:10,940
...his refusal
to overflow into the world
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outside its provincial framework.
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Toni Morrison is too talented
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00:07:21,754 --> 00:07:23,586
as to be
a wonderful registrar
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from the black side of life
provincial American.
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If I were to keep the audience
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great and serious that it deserves,
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00:07:36,869 --> 00:07:40,897
it would have to address a reality
more risky contemporary.
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00:07:45,544 --> 00:07:47,570
In the past, I have had criticism
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that they have accused me
to not write about white people.
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00:07:53,085 --> 00:07:54,781
I remember a review from Sula
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in which the critic said:
«One day, she...», she was referring to me,
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"will have to assume
the real responsibilities,
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00:08:02,795 --> 00:08:05,560
mature and write
about the conflict
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00:08:06,032 --> 00:08:08,592
real black people,
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00:08:08,734 --> 00:08:09,793
which is white people.
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As if our lives
they didn't make sense
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00:08:15,741 --> 00:08:17,835
nor depth without...
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00:08:18,778 --> 00:08:19,973
...the gaze of white people.
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00:08:20,746 --> 00:08:23,580
And I spent my whole life
as a writer
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trying to make sure
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that the gaze of the whites
was not the dominant
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00:08:29,655 --> 00:08:30,918
in none of my books.
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The Toni Morrison project
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resides precisely
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00:08:41,934 --> 00:08:45,029
in the effort to discredit...
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ACTIVIST
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...the notion that the gaze
of white men
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00:08:51,310 --> 00:08:53,939
It must be omnipresent.
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00:08:54,146 --> 00:08:55,739
The center of black life
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it is the southern city.
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00:08:57,650 --> 00:09:00,779
Once a week, the family car
rattles through its streets.
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00:09:02,121 --> 00:09:04,613
The rich and melodious tones
of black voices
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00:09:04,790 --> 00:09:06,156
they fly over the warm air
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00:09:06,258 --> 00:09:09,023
as men gather
to discuss crops
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00:09:09,195 --> 00:09:10,754
and pass the time of the day.
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00:09:11,630 --> 00:09:13,599
For women
and for men,
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00:09:13,899 --> 00:09:15,333
the city is a social center,
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00:09:15,801 --> 00:09:18,270
the primary impulse of gossip
and human relationships.
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00:09:18,370 --> 00:09:19,668
COFFEE
FISH 10 -HAM 10
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00:09:19,972 --> 00:09:23,136
Through its spontaneity
in fun or work,
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00:09:23,342 --> 00:09:26,210
we glimpse
the innate grace of these people.
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00:09:29,748 --> 00:09:30,841
In this country,
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00:09:31,350 --> 00:09:33,785
in many books, in particular
those of the 40s and 50s,
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the narrator's approach was felt
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00:09:37,957 --> 00:09:39,892
talking to someone white.
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00:09:40,659 --> 00:09:43,026
It was noticeable because they explained things
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that they should not explain
if they spoke to me.
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The assumption is that the reader
He is a white person.
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And that bothered me.
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00:10:01,847 --> 00:10:03,907
They never spoke to me.
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00:10:04,750 --> 00:10:07,083
Not even Frederick Douglass
speaks to me.
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00:10:07,319 --> 00:10:08,844
I feel like he's holding back.
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And I understand it
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because the people who support it
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00:10:13,392 --> 00:10:15,361
he was an abolitionist, white people.
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00:10:15,661 --> 00:10:17,926
STORY OF FREDERICK'S LIFE
DOUGLASS, US SLAVE
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Sometimes he even says it.
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00:10:19,999 --> 00:10:21,968
"It's terrible to relate
with these things."
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00:10:22,868 --> 00:10:25,167
Like rapes.
I wasn't talking about that.
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00:10:27,173 --> 00:10:29,404
I felt the same way
It was true with Ralph Ellison,
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00:10:29,942 --> 00:10:32,673
it was true
with many great writers.
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00:10:32,845 --> 00:10:34,313
THE INVISIBLE MAN
RALPH ELLISON NOVEL
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00:10:34,813 --> 00:10:35,746
The Invisible Man.
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00:10:36,248 --> 00:10:37,682
Invisible to whom?
169
00:10:40,286 --> 00:10:42,084
When she says:
«Invisible to whom?»
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00:10:42,288 --> 00:10:43,847
about The Invisible Man,
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00:10:44,023 --> 00:10:46,993
You think, "How dare you
to question the great novel?
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00:10:47,193 --> 00:10:48,252
She doesn't question
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00:10:48,460 --> 00:10:49,894
Yes, it is a great novel.
Does not question
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00:10:49,995 --> 00:10:51,725
if it is exquisitely written.
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00:10:51,964 --> 00:10:53,262
Question the perspective
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00:10:53,365 --> 00:10:55,891
that only one is defined
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00:10:56,101 --> 00:10:59,333
what his oppressor thinks of him.
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00:10:59,805 --> 00:11:00,795
It was something like: "Guess."
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00:11:00,973 --> 00:11:02,339
There is another world
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00:11:02,741 --> 00:11:04,073
when they're not even looking.
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00:11:08,314 --> 00:11:09,805
"Only when
the whites left,
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00:11:10,115 --> 00:11:12,880
the gravediggers,
Mr. and Mrs. Hodges
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00:11:13,118 --> 00:11:15,144
and their young son who helped them,
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00:11:15,487 --> 00:11:17,456
the blacks below
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00:11:17,923 --> 00:11:22,122
they entered with their hearts
hooded and teary-eyed,
186
00:11:22,428 --> 00:11:25,364
to sing 'We meet at the river',
187
00:11:25,931 --> 00:11:28,992
on the curved earth
that separated them
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00:11:29,401 --> 00:11:32,929
of the most magnificent hatred
that they have known in life.
189
00:11:34,206 --> 00:11:37,108
The question filled the October air,
190
00:11:37,876 --> 00:11:40,107
'Shall we meet at the river?
191
00:11:40,512 --> 00:11:42,947
The beautiful river?'.
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00:11:45,818 --> 00:11:47,514
Maybe Sula
he answered them even then
193
00:11:48,220 --> 00:11:50,849
since it started to rain
and the women ran
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00:11:51,023 --> 00:11:52,821
hopping across the grass,
195
00:11:52,992 --> 00:11:54,756
fearing that your hair will become stranded
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00:11:55,027 --> 00:11:56,188
"they will anticipate them to their house."
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00:11:59,898 --> 00:12:02,390
My world is a black world.
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00:12:03,269 --> 00:12:07,263
She was doing something
that many black writers
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00:12:07,806 --> 00:12:09,900
that had arisen
In the 70s they didn't do,
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00:12:10,075 --> 00:12:11,976
that is,
write about stories
201
00:12:12,177 --> 00:12:15,773
without having to speak
about eliminating... the white.
202
00:12:15,981 --> 00:12:16,846
And she doesn't...
203
00:12:16,949 --> 00:12:18,110
CRITIC OF THE NEW YORKER
204
00:12:18,217 --> 00:12:20,118
...he did it so that...
205
00:12:20,219 --> 00:12:22,017
...said that the world
of the white was wrong.
206
00:12:22,121 --> 00:12:23,453
The white world was peripheral,
207
00:12:23,555 --> 00:12:25,080
if it existed.
208
00:12:26,158 --> 00:12:27,854
I didn't want to talk because...
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00:12:28,527 --> 00:12:29,460
...black people,
210
00:12:30,029 --> 00:12:33,557
I just wanted to talk to you
and be among them...
211
00:12:33,932 --> 00:12:34,922
It's us.
212
00:12:35,968 --> 00:12:36,958
So...
213
00:12:37,269 --> 00:12:41,570
...the first thing I had to do was
eliminate the white gaze.
214
00:12:41,974 --> 00:12:43,840
Jimmy Baldwin
I used to talk about it,
215
00:12:44,009 --> 00:12:46,069
the little white man
that sits on your shoulder...
216
00:12:47,279 --> 00:12:50,477
...and control everything
what you do and say.
217
00:12:50,983 --> 00:12:54,112
You knock him out and you're free.
218
00:12:54,420 --> 00:12:56,048
Now I am the owner of the world.
219
00:12:56,255 --> 00:12:57,985
I can write
about anything,
220
00:12:58,590 --> 00:13:00,218
to anyone and for anyone.
221
00:13:00,959 --> 00:13:05,090
I don't have to have
a white critical eye...
222
00:13:06,131 --> 00:13:07,861
...controlling and editing me.
223
00:13:08,267 --> 00:13:09,565
Approving me.
224
00:13:10,836 --> 00:13:13,396
It has nothing to do
with whom you read the books.
225
00:13:13,872 --> 00:13:16,364
I hope that everyone, of any race,
226
00:13:16,542 --> 00:13:18,602
gender and country.
227
00:13:19,311 --> 00:13:20,904
But my sovereignty
228
00:13:21,013 --> 00:13:24,882
and my authority
as a racialized person
229
00:13:25,084 --> 00:13:28,851
had to be beaten
immediately with the first book.
230
00:13:36,261 --> 00:13:39,254
Every book I read
about young black girls
231
00:13:39,431 --> 00:13:40,592
they were supports...
232
00:13:40,899 --> 00:13:42,299
UNCLE TOM'S CABIN
233
00:13:43,235 --> 00:13:44,601
...jokes...
234
00:13:47,172 --> 00:13:48,162
Topsy.
235
00:13:48,273 --> 00:13:49,172
UNCLE TOM'S CABIN
236
00:13:50,576 --> 00:13:53,011
No one took them seriously. Never.
237
00:13:55,247 --> 00:13:57,011
I wanted to read a book about that.
238
00:13:57,182 --> 00:13:59,117
and nobody wrote it.
239
00:13:59,318 --> 00:14:01,116
Blue Eyes
240
00:14:01,387 --> 00:14:03,288
Even when I wrote
blue eyes,
241
00:14:03,655 --> 00:14:07,387
I was writing
a book I wanted to read.
242
00:14:08,093 --> 00:14:11,029
I hadn't seen a book
in which black girls
243
00:14:11,163 --> 00:14:12,222
were the center of attention.
244
00:14:13,298 --> 00:14:15,460
I wanted to read a book
that did not have codes,
245
00:14:15,601 --> 00:14:18,571
not even little notes explaining
things to white people.
246
00:14:19,238 --> 00:14:20,467
And I had a question
247
00:14:20,939 --> 00:14:23,204
very important in mind
at that time.
248
00:14:23,409 --> 00:14:26,436
Which was: «How does a child learn
249
00:14:26,645 --> 00:14:29,114
self-hatred?"
250
00:14:29,915 --> 00:14:31,213
Where does it come from?
251
00:14:31,683 --> 00:14:33,117
Who enables it?
252
00:14:33,652 --> 00:14:35,280
How is it infectious?
253
00:14:35,988 --> 00:14:37,581
And then which ones
are the consequences?
254
00:14:37,923 --> 00:14:40,290
I'm not black. I won't be black.
255
00:14:41,093 --> 00:14:41,958
Peola.
256
00:14:42,094 --> 00:14:43,027
IMITATION OF LIFE
1934
257
00:14:43,128 --> 00:14:45,563
She called me black.
Jessie told me that.
258
00:14:45,931 --> 00:14:47,957
Jessie Pullman, what a shame.
259
00:14:49,668 --> 00:14:52,502
You. It's because you're black.
260
00:14:53,172 --> 00:14:54,401
You make me black.
261
00:14:55,274 --> 00:14:58,073
I won't be black.
262
00:14:58,243 --> 00:14:59,142
Jessie,
263
00:14:59,711 --> 00:15:02,977
how could you tell him
something so evil and cruel to Peola?
264
00:15:03,615 --> 00:15:05,982
It's not your fault, Miss B.
265
00:15:06,185 --> 00:15:08,154
It's not yours or mine.
266
00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:11,656
I don't know exactly
where the blame lies.
267
00:15:12,558 --> 00:15:13,958
This is Blue Eyes...
268
00:15:14,059 --> 00:15:14,719
SONIA SANCHEZ
POET
269
00:15:15,027 --> 00:15:16,359
...a novel by Toni Morrison.
270
00:15:16,462 --> 00:15:18,021
Start:
«Even if no one says anything,
271
00:15:18,197 --> 00:15:21,565
there were no marigolds
in that autumn of 1941.
272
00:15:21,667 --> 00:15:23,192
It looks like it should look, right?
273
00:15:23,302 --> 00:15:24,361
It's been used, hasn't it?
274
00:15:24,536 --> 00:15:27,233
They have sustained it,
and over the years, it broke.
275
00:15:27,506 --> 00:15:29,998
I have thrown away this book
on the other side of the room,
276
00:15:30,209 --> 00:15:31,268
I have collected it
277
00:15:31,577 --> 00:15:33,375
and then I went down the stairs laughing.
278
00:15:33,545 --> 00:15:35,138
You read Toni and you cry,
279
00:15:35,314 --> 00:15:37,442
but you must laugh.
I say, "Yes, you...
280
00:15:37,616 --> 00:15:40,450
You really understood.
“You trapped us all that time.”
281
00:15:41,553 --> 00:15:43,613
"I have you on my side now, ha ha.
282
00:15:43,989 --> 00:15:45,150
I got you. You should read this.
283
00:15:45,290 --> 00:15:46,189
I got you.
284
00:15:46,358 --> 00:15:48,350
You must finally take care of this.
I have you.
285
00:15:48,594 --> 00:15:51,154
And if you don't laugh, you don't survive.
286
00:15:51,296 --> 00:15:52,696
BLUE EYES
NOVEL BY TONI MORRISON 1970
287
00:15:52,998 --> 00:15:54,364
"Even if no one says anything,
288
00:15:54,533 --> 00:15:57,731
there were no marigolds
in that autumn of 1941.
289
00:15:58,470 --> 00:16:00,098
We believed then
290
00:16:00,472 --> 00:16:04,136
that the marigolds did not grow
because Pecola was going to have
291
00:16:04,476 --> 00:16:06,570
his father's baby.
292
00:16:07,446 --> 00:16:09,506
Our seeds
They were not the only ones
293
00:16:09,715 --> 00:16:13,015
that did not sprout.
None sprouted.
294
00:16:13,719 --> 00:16:16,416
I started my career with Ojos Azules
295
00:16:16,522 --> 00:16:19,686
putting the whole argument
on the first sheet.
296
00:16:20,392 --> 00:16:21,758
The reader reads the first page
297
00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:23,628
and knows exactly what happened.
298
00:16:24,162 --> 00:16:27,132
And if you turn the page
it's because he wants
299
00:16:27,299 --> 00:16:29,359
know how it happened
300
00:16:29,768 --> 00:16:31,430
or love the language.
301
00:16:31,803 --> 00:16:34,363
It is his crudest novel
302
00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:38,033
and its crudeness is
really wonderful.
303
00:16:38,443 --> 00:16:39,467
BLUE EYES
TONI MORRISON
304
00:16:39,578 --> 00:16:42,412
Indeed in many different ways.
305
00:16:43,415 --> 00:16:44,713
That's why, I think, it's still...
306
00:16:44,816 --> 00:16:45,715
WALTER MOSLEY
AUTHOR
307
00:16:45,817 --> 00:16:47,308
...of his books
more controversial.
308
00:16:47,419 --> 00:16:48,717
People always want to ban it
309
00:16:48,820 --> 00:16:50,516
and they said:
"Children can't read it."
310
00:16:50,622 --> 00:16:51,749
PROHIBITED
IN NORTH CAROLINA
311
00:16:52,057 --> 00:16:53,548
But everything that
It bothered people
312
00:16:53,659 --> 00:16:55,127
that's what I love about the book.
313
00:16:55,227 --> 00:16:56,593
EAST WAKE REMOVES
BLUE EYES OF SCHOOLS
314
00:16:56,695 --> 00:16:58,527
What I say is true
in all his books,
315
00:16:58,630 --> 00:17:01,259
but i think
I liked it better in Blue Eyes.
316
00:17:03,068 --> 00:17:07,597
I remember an incident
from my own childhood,
317
00:17:08,373 --> 00:17:10,706
when a very good friend of mine and I
318
00:17:10,809 --> 00:17:12,744
we were
walking down the street.
319
00:17:13,645 --> 00:17:14,772
We were talking...
320
00:17:15,380 --> 00:17:19,181
...about whether God existed.
She said no.
321
00:17:19,751 --> 00:17:20,719
And I said yes.
322
00:17:21,086 --> 00:17:22,486
But then he said
that he had proof.
323
00:17:22,721 --> 00:17:24,781
He said he had been praying
324
00:17:25,724 --> 00:17:28,523
two years to have blue eyes...
325
00:17:29,595 --> 00:17:30,858
...and I hadn't given them to them.
326
00:17:34,232 --> 00:17:36,701
I remember turning around and looking at her.
327
00:17:38,136 --> 00:17:39,570
She was very black,
328
00:17:40,138 --> 00:17:42,664
and very beautiful.
329
00:17:44,643 --> 00:17:45,838
How painful.
330
00:17:46,712 --> 00:17:49,443
Can you imagine that kind of pain?
331
00:17:49,748 --> 00:17:51,717
About that? About the color?
332
00:17:52,451 --> 00:17:55,785
So I wanted to say
that this type of racism is painful.
333
00:17:57,489 --> 00:18:01,654
They are not lynchings,
homicides and drownings,
334
00:18:02,494 --> 00:18:04,554
it is the inner pain...
335
00:18:06,431 --> 00:18:07,660
...very deep...
336
00:18:08,767 --> 00:18:12,169
...for a girl
11 years old who believes
337
00:18:12,471 --> 00:18:16,636
that if only I had
certain characteristics
338
00:18:16,908 --> 00:18:18,467
from the white world...
339
00:18:19,177 --> 00:18:20,543
...that would be nice.
340
00:18:22,781 --> 00:18:27,913
He gave up completely
to the main narrative,
341
00:18:28,286 --> 00:18:30,346
that is, the whole notion
of what ugliness is,
342
00:18:30,522 --> 00:18:31,785
what is uselessness.
343
00:18:33,692 --> 00:18:35,160
He got it from his family.
344
00:18:35,327 --> 00:18:37,489
He got it from school,
of the movies,
345
00:18:37,696 --> 00:18:39,927
- from everywhere.
-The main narrative?
346
00:18:40,499 --> 00:18:43,162
It's... a black man's life.
347
00:18:44,302 --> 00:18:48,296
The main narrative
is the ideological script
348
00:18:48,473 --> 00:18:50,874
what people impose
349
00:18:51,243 --> 00:18:52,802
with authority over others.
350
00:18:53,512 --> 00:18:56,573
The main fiction, history,
351
00:18:57,249 --> 00:18:59,275
has a certain point of view.
352
00:19:00,719 --> 00:19:03,917
When these little ones see
353
00:19:04,389 --> 00:19:07,484
that the most precious gift
What could they get?
354
00:19:07,659 --> 00:19:09,560
at Christmas it was this little white doll,
355
00:19:09,928 --> 00:19:12,397
is talking
a main narrative.
356
00:19:12,964 --> 00:19:14,660
This is beautiful, charming,
357
00:19:14,766 --> 00:19:16,325
and it's not you.
358
00:19:18,937 --> 00:19:20,769
We are talking about Blue Eyes
359
00:19:20,872 --> 00:19:21,896
by Toni Morrison.
360
00:19:22,207 --> 00:19:23,675
I think it's a national treasure.
361
00:19:23,809 --> 00:19:24,799
Everyone should read it.
362
00:19:24,910 --> 00:19:26,845
Don't you think that
would the world be different?
363
00:19:28,380 --> 00:19:29,848
In the years
from Oprah's Book Club...
364
00:19:29,948 --> 00:19:30,847
READING CLUB
BY OPRAH
365
00:19:30,949 --> 00:19:33,612
...I chose four of his books.
I wanted the world,
366
00:19:33,752 --> 00:19:35,618
that everyone who could hear me...
367
00:19:35,754 --> 00:19:37,416
PRESENTER OF
THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW
368
00:19:37,522 --> 00:19:39,787
...understand
the importance of your work.
369
00:19:40,325 --> 00:19:41,691
I love the Book Club so much
370
00:19:41,860 --> 00:19:45,592
because you want
that there are enough books
371
00:19:45,697 --> 00:19:48,462
with which people sit
safe and comfortable.
372
00:19:48,633 --> 00:19:50,363
They feel: "I can read this one,"
373
00:19:50,535 --> 00:19:54,438
When the books are about Robin,
Sue, Daniel and Jake.
374
00:19:54,539 --> 00:19:57,304
People must trust
and feel: "This is a sure thing
375
00:19:57,409 --> 00:19:59,435
What can I read and do read?
about people I know.
376
00:19:59,611 --> 00:20:01,910
And then, boom,
We give it to Toni Morrison!
377
00:20:03,014 --> 00:20:04,573
BLUE EYES
A NOVEL BY TONI MORRISON
378
00:20:04,716 --> 00:20:06,309
SULA
A NOVEL BY TONI MORRISON
379
00:20:06,418 --> 00:20:08,649
SONG OF SOLOMON
TONI MORRISON
380
00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:10,912
A NOVEL BY TONI MORRISON
TAR BABY
381
00:20:11,289 --> 00:20:12,689
BELOVED A NOVEL
BY TONI MORRISON
382
00:20:12,791 --> 00:20:14,453
JAZZ A NOVEL
BY TONI MORRISON
383
00:20:14,593 --> 00:20:15,993
PARADISE
TONI MORRISON
384
00:20:16,328 --> 00:20:17,887
To survive,
we have to reread Toni...
385
00:20:18,029 --> 00:20:19,327
LOVE
NOVEL BY TONI MORRISON
386
00:20:19,431 --> 00:20:20,296
...every ten years...
387
00:20:20,398 --> 00:20:21,388
A BLESSING -HOUSE
388
00:20:21,500 --> 00:20:23,901
...because every ten or 15 years,
we must reimagine...
389
00:20:24,002 --> 00:20:24,935
CHILDREN'S NIGHT
390
00:20:25,303 --> 00:20:26,862
...in an American landscape.
391
00:20:27,272 --> 00:20:28,831
You won't survive if you don't.
392
00:20:29,374 --> 00:20:31,275
Someone said: “Reinvent.”
I said, “No.
393
00:20:31,443 --> 00:20:32,911
'Reinvent' means
that you don't like yourself."
394
00:20:33,345 --> 00:20:34,278
There is something wrong.
395
00:20:34,379 --> 00:20:37,406
But reimagine
in an American landscape.
396
00:20:37,582 --> 00:20:39,676
What should I do now,
how should I live,
397
00:20:39,851 --> 00:20:42,548
how should I rearrange the vowels,
398
00:20:42,754 --> 00:20:44,848
how should I reorganize
the dirt of my feet,
399
00:20:45,023 --> 00:20:47,288
how should I reorganize
my hair, my breasts,
400
00:20:47,459 --> 00:20:48,893
my ideas.
401
00:20:53,598 --> 00:20:57,501
My grandparents lived in Alabama
402
00:20:57,969 --> 00:21:00,063
and they had a small farm.
403
00:21:00,739 --> 00:21:02,708
They worked as sharecroppers.
404
00:21:03,675 --> 00:21:06,042
My grandfather played the violin,
405
00:21:06,645 --> 00:21:11,345
apparently very well,
and chose to go to Birmingham
406
00:21:11,449 --> 00:21:17,320
with his violin to earn money.
As a street musician.
407
00:21:17,589 --> 00:21:20,354
My grandmother sent him a message
408
00:21:20,525 --> 00:21:21,925
saying: «We are leaving...
409
00:21:22,961 --> 00:21:25,055
...we will get on a train,
410
00:21:25,530 --> 00:21:27,999
and we will go to Akron, Ohio.
411
00:21:28,867 --> 00:21:30,597
She had relatives in Akron.
412
00:21:31,837 --> 00:21:34,500
"If you want to see again
to your daughters
413
00:21:34,940 --> 00:21:36,568
or see me again...
414
00:21:37,642 --> 00:21:38,905
...you should get on that train.
415
00:21:40,979 --> 00:21:42,845
I can't stay here.
416
00:21:43,381 --> 00:21:45,543
White children surround us.
417
00:21:48,987 --> 00:21:50,888
That's all he had to say.
418
00:21:52,057 --> 00:21:53,787
"White children surround us
419
00:21:54,593 --> 00:21:55,993
and we must go.
420
00:21:56,828 --> 00:21:59,627
I'll be on such and such a train,
421
00:21:59,865 --> 00:22:02,630
at such and such a time, going north.
422
00:22:03,068 --> 00:22:06,835
If you want to see us again,
Get on the train.
423
00:22:08,740 --> 00:22:10,470
What he meant
424
00:22:10,742 --> 00:22:12,938
It's just that the girls were growing up.
Maybe they had
425
00:22:13,378 --> 00:22:15,472
I don't know, 12 or 13 years old.
426
00:22:15,914 --> 00:22:17,780
And the white children...
427
00:22:18,450 --> 00:22:21,147
...they would look at them from a distance.
428
00:22:22,053 --> 00:22:23,954
but she knew
what they had in mind.
429
00:22:28,860 --> 00:22:30,692
They called him Big Dad.
430
00:22:30,996 --> 00:22:34,125
The train left, and he wasn't there.
431
00:22:35,133 --> 00:22:38,433
I was on the train,
but I didn't want anyone
432
00:22:38,770 --> 00:22:41,638
saw him leave Birmingham
433
00:22:42,107 --> 00:22:44,770
because I thought
that they would take him off the train
434
00:22:45,577 --> 00:22:48,877
or they would arrest him or do whatever they
they do to black people who move.
435
00:22:48,980 --> 00:22:51,415
He was hiding on the train.
436
00:22:51,783 --> 00:22:56,187
The family was very excited
that Big Daddy was there.
437
00:22:57,622 --> 00:22:59,853
My mother says she was very happy
438
00:22:59,991 --> 00:23:05,828
because for the first time
They saw and ate white bread,
439
00:23:07,098 --> 00:23:10,000
which, easily,
It's the worst thing in the world.
440
00:23:12,537 --> 00:23:15,837
And they made their first stop in Ohio.
441
00:23:22,881 --> 00:23:25,146
What the hell was there
in the water in Ohio...?
442
00:23:26,918 --> 00:23:29,149
because there was something
in the water in Ohio
443
00:23:29,788 --> 00:23:32,019
that made you and Rita Dove
left Ohio
444
00:23:32,190 --> 00:23:33,556
and they wrote what they wrote.
445
00:23:33,658 --> 00:23:34,990
OHIO STATE
BIRTH CERTIFICATE
446
00:23:35,093 --> 00:23:37,722
DATE OF BIRTH
FEBRUARY 18, 1931
447
00:23:37,896 --> 00:23:39,956
BORN ALIVE AT 11.00 A
448
00:23:40,131 --> 00:23:42,498
PLACE OF BIRTH
LORAIN COUNTY
449
00:23:42,634 --> 00:23:43,567
FULL NAME Chloe
450
00:23:43,668 --> 00:23:45,603
Chloe is my birth name.
451
00:23:46,838 --> 00:23:48,602
My saint's name is Anthony.
452
00:23:48,974 --> 00:23:50,738
My maiden name: Wofford.
453
00:23:51,142 --> 00:23:52,667
People always pronounce it wrong.
454
00:23:52,844 --> 00:23:54,938
They said Chou, even my teachers.
455
00:23:57,015 --> 00:23:58,506
Chlow, Clough.
456
00:23:59,951 --> 00:24:01,249
Oh Clovis!
457
00:24:01,886 --> 00:24:04,788
So I shortened it
and I gave myself the name of my saint.
458
00:24:05,256 --> 00:24:08,920
And I got, of course,
my married name, Morrison.
459
00:24:11,663 --> 00:24:13,655
It is a way of dividing life.
460
00:24:15,667 --> 00:24:19,627
One of those names is the person
which is outside.
461
00:24:21,239 --> 00:24:23,640
And the other is the one who is not there...
462
00:24:24,009 --> 00:24:26,240
...the one who doesn't make documentaries.
463
00:24:30,615 --> 00:24:32,174
Its place is the center of the USA,
464
00:24:32,283 --> 00:24:34,650
because it is the south and it is the west,
465
00:24:34,953 --> 00:24:36,649
and it is the east, and it is a river
466
00:24:36,755 --> 00:24:38,189
and everything comes together.
467
00:24:38,556 --> 00:24:39,888
BLACK RIVER
468
00:24:40,725 --> 00:24:42,990
Lorain by Toni. It's his rhythm.
469
00:24:44,195 --> 00:24:47,097
It's like something out of the pages
470
00:24:47,265 --> 00:24:48,790
of Blue Eyes.
471
00:24:50,835 --> 00:24:52,736
It was a steel town
472
00:24:53,004 --> 00:24:55,803
on the shore of Lake Erie.
473
00:24:56,074 --> 00:24:57,667
And there was work.
474
00:24:59,544 --> 00:25:02,241
Full of immigrants from Poland...
475
00:25:03,915 --> 00:25:04,848
...Italy...
476
00:25:04,949 --> 00:25:05,814
FRANK ROSSO
FRUIT
477
00:25:05,917 --> 00:25:08,887
...black people from Canada
who had escaped,
478
00:25:09,087 --> 00:25:10,988
had gone to Canada
and he had returned.
479
00:25:11,089 --> 00:25:11,988
SIXTH CITY
ALWAYS 10
480
00:25:12,123 --> 00:25:13,022
MILL
AND SUPPLIER COMPANY
481
00:25:13,158 --> 00:25:14,888
So it was very mixed
482
00:25:15,727 --> 00:25:17,218
regarding culture and race.
483
00:25:19,898 --> 00:25:21,867
There was a poor working class
484
00:25:22,267 --> 00:25:25,066
and very few middle class people.
485
00:25:27,906 --> 00:25:30,205
We were very poor.
486
00:25:30,308 --> 00:25:31,901
CLEVELAND TRUST COMPANY
487
00:25:32,010 --> 00:25:33,034
We moved a lot
488
00:25:33,211 --> 00:25:34,941
because we couldn't pay the rent...
489
00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:36,742
LABORATORY
1853 ELYRIA AVENUE
490
00:25:36,848 --> 00:25:37,872
...of four dollars.
491
00:25:39,017 --> 00:25:40,986
My mother cooked, washed and all that.
492
00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:42,087
RAMAH AND GEORGE WOFFORD
493
00:25:42,220 --> 00:25:45,748
My father worked in the steel mill
at different times.
494
00:25:46,691 --> 00:25:49,593
I was never at home
at the same time.
495
00:25:51,863 --> 00:25:55,664
I don't know if people understand
496
00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:57,769
that poverty was not a shame
497
00:25:58,103 --> 00:25:59,230
as it is now.
498
00:25:59,671 --> 00:26:02,004
They didn't pressure you to get ahead,
499
00:26:02,307 --> 00:26:03,366
very far ahead.
500
00:26:03,741 --> 00:26:06,210
you just wanted
your family and be healthy,
501
00:26:06,778 --> 00:26:08,940
and enough resources
how to have food
502
00:26:09,147 --> 00:26:10,342
and pay the bills.
503
00:26:10,849 --> 00:26:13,717
And if that happened,
and you had your church
504
00:26:13,818 --> 00:26:15,116
and friends, that was all.
505
00:26:17,689 --> 00:26:18,918
The people who lived next door
506
00:26:19,090 --> 00:26:21,889
when we moved
to 21st street was from Russia.
507
00:26:21,993 --> 00:26:22,961
21st STREET
ELYRIA AVENUE
508
00:26:23,094 --> 00:26:25,723
My mother and the wife
They used to exchange recipes.
509
00:26:26,898 --> 00:26:28,924
She taught my mother
to cook
510
00:26:29,667 --> 00:26:32,034
a plate of cabbage.
511
00:26:32,670 --> 00:26:34,298
And the people who lived there
512
00:26:34,706 --> 00:26:36,004
It was something else.
513
00:26:36,241 --> 00:26:37,675
Those people were black.
514
00:26:37,976 --> 00:26:39,376
There were like two black families
515
00:26:39,744 --> 00:26:40,803
on that street
516
00:26:41,012 --> 00:26:42,947
There were neighbors and they were watching.
517
00:26:43,781 --> 00:26:46,341
Nobody was there
messing with others.
518
00:26:46,851 --> 00:26:49,685
It was quiet.
It seemed boring to me.
519
00:26:54,092 --> 00:26:55,685
I read all the time.
520
00:26:57,962 --> 00:27:00,090
My mother and my grandparents
521
00:27:00,265 --> 00:27:02,791
they were anxious
for maintaining that
522
00:27:02,967 --> 00:27:04,060
because they came from a place
523
00:27:04,235 --> 00:27:06,329
where you couldn't read.
524
00:27:07,172 --> 00:27:08,731
There were no schools
525
00:27:08,940 --> 00:27:12,104
and they firmly believed
in that skill.
526
00:27:12,310 --> 00:27:14,745
The rain falls 23456789-10
527
00:27:14,913 --> 00:27:16,905
My mother joined
to reading clubs.
528
00:27:17,148 --> 00:27:20,846
It was something very precious,
and they were proud of it.
529
00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:23,081
We were horrified to find out
530
00:27:23,254 --> 00:27:25,155
that the school leader
from Ohio Debe Terhar
531
00:27:25,323 --> 00:27:29,158
has prohibited the novel
1970 by Toni Morrison
532
00:27:29,327 --> 00:27:30,386
Blue Eyes
533
00:27:30,695 --> 00:27:32,721
be on the reading list
state recommended
534
00:27:32,830 --> 00:27:33,729
for 11th grade.
535
00:27:33,865 --> 00:27:34,924
Terhar describes the book...
536
00:27:35,033 --> 00:27:35,966
BLUE EYES
TONI MORRISON
537
00:27:36,067 --> 00:27:37,763
...as pornographic and said, I quote:
538
00:27:37,902 --> 00:27:39,302
"I don't want my grandchildren to read that
539
00:27:39,470 --> 00:27:41,837
and I don't want that
Nobody's grandchildren read it.
540
00:27:41,940 --> 00:27:43,738
Should not be used in any school
541
00:27:43,908 --> 00:27:46,844
of Ohio in children between
kindergarten and 12th grade.
542
00:27:48,413 --> 00:27:50,973
I think that history always
has shown that books
543
00:27:51,082 --> 00:27:52,141
They are the first...
544
00:27:52,784 --> 00:27:56,312
...valley where fighting
certain types of battles.
545
00:27:56,821 --> 00:28:00,189
Parents have the right
to restrict books
546
00:28:01,025 --> 00:28:02,186
in his house.
547
00:28:02,994 --> 00:28:04,087
They have the right
548
00:28:04,762 --> 00:28:06,993
to tell their children what to read.
549
00:28:08,132 --> 00:28:11,193
But they have no right
to tell my children
550
00:28:11,436 --> 00:28:12,369
what to read,
551
00:28:13,271 --> 00:28:16,332
what happens when
you publicly ban a book.
552
00:28:16,774 --> 00:28:21,508
In the bathroom, I have
a framed document,
553
00:28:21,980 --> 00:28:26,111
a letter from the office
Texas Penitentiary
554
00:28:26,751 --> 00:28:30,984
which says that Paradise
He was banned from jail...
555
00:28:31,089 --> 00:28:32,216
PARADISE. - TONI MORRISON
1997
556
00:28:32,323 --> 00:28:35,088
...because it could incite disorder.
557
00:28:36,861 --> 00:28:39,456
And I thought, “How powerful is that?
558
00:28:40,465 --> 00:28:42,525
I could break the whole place!”
559
00:28:45,503 --> 00:28:49,031
His language skills
It has something...
560
00:28:50,875 --> 00:28:53,310
...since the reader feels
561
00:28:53,511 --> 00:28:56,970
that she talks to him
and can answer you,
562
00:28:57,915 --> 00:29:00,885
and also found in Morrison
a new language about himself...
563
00:29:00,985 --> 00:29:02,419
TEACHER
FROM HARVARD UNIVERSITY
564
00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:04,079
...about the condition
in which they live.
565
00:29:04,289 --> 00:29:09,023
And that discovery gives them
a sense of transcendence.
566
00:29:09,227 --> 00:29:12,459
Toni Morrison's work
It's for all of us,
567
00:29:13,298 --> 00:29:17,065
his words, his language
He is a friend of our minds.
568
00:29:17,235 --> 00:29:18,498
That's what you feel
569
00:29:18,903 --> 00:29:21,304
when you are in the middle of reading.
570
00:29:21,472 --> 00:29:24,340
comforts you
571
00:29:24,842 --> 00:29:28,244
and allows you to understand
that the pain is okay.
572
00:29:28,446 --> 00:29:32,440
Reaches depths
of pain and shows us,
573
00:29:32,817 --> 00:29:35,184
through the pain,
the thousands of ways
574
00:29:35,353 --> 00:29:37,982
in which we can reach
to love That's what it does...
575
00:29:38,923 --> 00:29:40,255
...with a few words
on one page.
576
00:29:40,892 --> 00:29:42,520
That's what he does all the time.
577
00:29:43,394 --> 00:29:45,454
He teaches us all the time.
578
00:29:46,030 --> 00:29:48,590
There is no prayer
that Ilena is not there
579
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:52,528
deep
of meaning, knowledge
580
00:29:52,870 --> 00:29:53,963
and information.
581
00:29:56,074 --> 00:29:58,168
The books
I found them interesting.
582
00:29:59,010 --> 00:30:01,343
I read everything there was
in the library.
583
00:30:02,146 --> 00:30:03,045
Everything.
584
00:30:03,915 --> 00:30:05,440
But mainly
It was the language,
585
00:30:05,616 --> 00:30:09,144
the different modes
to say the same.
586
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:12,518
Decisions made by the authors
587
00:30:12,924 --> 00:30:16,156
to tell me something
or make me see something.
588
00:30:16,461 --> 00:30:19,260
That was the fantastic thing.
It still is.
589
00:30:21,299 --> 00:30:24,030
When my sister
graduated from high school...
590
00:30:24,202 --> 00:30:25,192
YESTERDAY WAS OUR CHALLENGE
591
00:30:25,303 --> 00:30:27,568
...got a job
in the library.
592
00:30:27,872 --> 00:30:31,536
And very sweetly
He got me a job as an assistant.
593
00:30:32,343 --> 00:30:34,278
He took the books from a cart
594
00:30:34,612 --> 00:30:36,171
and returned them
to the shelves.
595
00:30:36,347 --> 00:30:38,111
The children's part
was down
596
00:30:38,282 --> 00:30:40,251
and above was Dostoyevsky.
597
00:30:40,451 --> 00:30:42,352
I mean, they had nothing.
for young adults.
598
00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:43,579
That didn't exist.
599
00:30:44,322 --> 00:30:47,156
They were books for little children.
and then there was the real world.
600
00:30:47,492 --> 00:30:50,621
But I was slow
because I read the books
601
00:30:51,129 --> 00:30:53,428
instead of returning them quickly.
602
00:30:54,031 --> 00:30:56,523
So they promoted me
to the catalog department...
603
00:30:58,202 --> 00:31:00,899
...where I worked until I left
to university.
604
00:31:04,475 --> 00:31:07,968
I remember that when I was 13 I read Sula.
605
00:31:08,246 --> 00:31:10,545
There was a group of girls on my block.
606
00:31:11,082 --> 00:31:13,017
Believe it or not, between jumping rope
607
00:31:13,184 --> 00:31:16,211
and play matatena,
We shared books.
608
00:31:17,221 --> 00:31:19,952
Somehow,
in that circulation
609
00:31:20,057 --> 00:31:21,423
there was a book, Sula,
610
00:31:21,526 --> 00:31:25,156
with a black woman with a hairstyle
soft afro on the cap
611
00:31:25,563 --> 00:31:29,000
and we read it.
I remember that my friends
612
00:31:29,100 --> 00:31:30,659
they couldn't stand Sula
613
00:31:30,968 --> 00:31:33,597
because he went to bed
with her best friend's husband.
614
00:31:34,572 --> 00:31:37,098
Actually, for me,
That made it more interesting.
615
00:31:37,241 --> 00:31:38,971
that is, it broke a taboo.
616
00:31:41,312 --> 00:31:42,336
When you see
617
00:31:43,014 --> 00:31:45,381
that there was a character
like Sula in the world,
618
00:31:45,483 --> 00:31:50,114
gave me a world of language
from which I could escape,
619
00:31:50,388 --> 00:31:52,050
but also
a world that I recognized
620
00:31:52,457 --> 00:31:56,326
as a young black woman in
a working class community.
621
00:31:57,361 --> 00:32:00,297
Showed me the magic of my own world
622
00:32:01,165 --> 00:32:02,326
that I didn't see.
623
00:32:02,533 --> 00:32:04,502
And after reading it,
It was difficult to see
624
00:32:04,669 --> 00:32:06,638
my own world in the same way.
625
00:32:09,373 --> 00:32:12,366
The work of the novelist
is to take you to a place
626
00:32:13,311 --> 00:32:15,371
that you couldn't even imagine.
627
00:32:15,580 --> 00:32:17,549
The novelist's work
is to become
628
00:32:17,648 --> 00:32:20,345
in a child who ends
of learning to read.
629
00:32:21,252 --> 00:32:23,585
And you just learned to imagine
630
00:32:24,155 --> 00:32:26,056
what the language says.
631
00:32:28,493 --> 00:32:30,758
Toni tells
extraordinary stories
632
00:32:31,162 --> 00:32:35,031
that move people
in a very deep place.
633
00:32:35,266 --> 00:32:37,997
The story is almost like bait.
634
00:32:38,202 --> 00:32:39,670
Some people read those books.
635
00:32:40,037 --> 00:32:42,199
Other people convert
those books in movies.
636
00:32:42,540 --> 00:32:45,271
Others tell them those stories
to other people.
637
00:32:45,543 --> 00:32:47,739
Others show those books to people
638
00:32:48,079 --> 00:32:49,240
who is not interested in reading,
639
00:32:49,447 --> 00:32:52,110
but when you hear the story,
their lives are transformed.
640
00:32:52,283 --> 00:32:55,185
They say: "Wow,
"I had never thought about it."
641
00:32:56,521 --> 00:33:00,014
Books have an impact
incredible in our culture,
642
00:33:00,358 --> 00:33:03,226
although almost all
Our culture doesn't know it.
643
00:33:04,495 --> 00:33:07,590
In 1995, I traveled with Toni
to Mexico City.
644
00:33:08,065 --> 00:33:10,364
But when we arrive,
We couldn't get out of the car.
645
00:33:10,535 --> 00:33:12,265
Many people had gone
646
00:33:12,470 --> 00:33:13,563
to see Toni Morrison.
647
00:33:15,473 --> 00:33:17,339
Someone else on stage said:
648
00:33:17,441 --> 00:33:19,342
«Would you like us to translate,
649
00:33:19,644 --> 00:33:22,341
than a simultaneous translator
translate into Spanish
650
00:33:22,513 --> 00:33:24,482
What does Toni Morrison read and say?
651
00:33:24,649 --> 00:33:28,450
In unison, they said
from the audience: “No!
652
00:33:29,554 --> 00:33:32,046
We just want to hear Toni Morrison.
653
00:33:32,590 --> 00:33:34,354
We understand her
654
00:33:34,792 --> 00:33:37,523
because we are also
in their language.
655
00:33:38,563 --> 00:33:41,260
They know there is freedom
656
00:33:41,365 --> 00:33:43,231
in this woman's language.
657
00:33:43,334 --> 00:33:45,826
Took the canon of the written language
658
00:33:46,370 --> 00:33:47,531
and broke it in two.
659
00:33:47,705 --> 00:33:49,401
It is the Emancipation Proclamation
660
00:33:49,574 --> 00:33:50,701
of the English language.
661
00:33:53,477 --> 00:33:55,503
Every time I go
to a place in the world,
662
00:33:55,613 --> 00:33:56,637
I go to a bookstore.
663
00:33:56,747 --> 00:33:59,478
There's always a Morrison section.
664
00:33:59,684 --> 00:34:03,314
I receive emails
of women in China...
665
00:34:03,621 --> 00:34:06,090
...or from Japan who study it.
666
00:34:06,257 --> 00:34:10,524
I have graduated students
from Asia, Africa, Latin America.
667
00:34:10,628 --> 00:34:14,497
Morrison is a global figure.
It is a global phenomenon.
668
00:34:14,732 --> 00:34:16,598
He speaks to people
from all over the world.
669
00:34:17,535 --> 00:34:19,094
If there is life on Mars,
670
00:34:19,670 --> 00:34:21,366
read Toni Morrison to find out
671
00:34:21,539 --> 00:34:22,802
what it is to be human.
672
00:34:23,174 --> 00:34:24,233
LORAIN
CORPORATE LIMITS
673
00:34:24,408 --> 00:34:26,104
CZECH GRILL
674
00:34:26,243 --> 00:34:27,438
LEVEL CROSSING
675
00:34:32,116 --> 00:34:34,449
They were very strict
physically with us
676
00:34:35,620 --> 00:34:38,488
when I was a girl.
That is, criticism.
677
00:34:38,656 --> 00:34:40,215
"Don't sit next to anyone."
678
00:34:40,391 --> 00:34:43,190
They were very serious,
679
00:34:43,394 --> 00:34:44,453
particularly with girls.
680
00:34:44,729 --> 00:34:46,527
I don't think they did that
with my brothers,
681
00:34:46,764 --> 00:34:49,199
with the minors,
but with the girls, yes.
682
00:34:49,467 --> 00:34:51,868
There was a wonderful place
where we could go dancing
683
00:34:52,336 --> 00:34:55,465
in South Lorain.
My mother took us...
684
00:34:56,207 --> 00:34:57,470
...and he brought us!
685
00:35:01,312 --> 00:35:03,440
My sister got married
when he finished high school.
686
00:35:04,582 --> 00:35:05,550
I don't...
687
00:35:06,484 --> 00:35:08,680
...so I was a wild card there.
688
00:35:11,489 --> 00:35:13,219
I wanted to go to university,
689
00:35:13,357 --> 00:35:16,225
first, to get away from my family
since I had...
690
00:35:16,527 --> 00:35:19,463
...fifteen or 16 years old.
And they know what families are like,
691
00:35:19,597 --> 00:35:22,294
They tell you: "Take off your lipstick",
and stuff.
692
00:35:22,466 --> 00:35:24,526
But for me it was leaving my house...
693
00:35:25,569 --> 00:35:28,630
...and also get closer to a place
where I could read.
694
00:35:31,442 --> 00:35:33,377
I had an uncle who had gone for a year
695
00:35:33,544 --> 00:35:34,705
to Ohio State.
696
00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:39,840
And I lived very close,
about ten kilometers from Oberlin.
697
00:35:41,752 --> 00:35:43,744
My mother told me:
"Well, go to Oberlin."
698
00:35:45,322 --> 00:35:47,655
And I thought: "He will call me
699
00:35:47,825 --> 00:35:49,885
and he will tell me to come
to wash clothes."
700
00:35:50,261 --> 00:35:53,288
So I wanted to go away.
I knew about Howard,
701
00:35:53,397 --> 00:35:54,797
so I sent
the application and I went there.
702
00:35:54,899 --> 00:35:55,958
THIS IS WASHINGTON, D.C.
703
00:36:06,444 --> 00:36:07,912
When I entered Howard...
704
00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:10,339
...it was loose.
705
00:36:12,850 --> 00:36:14,910
It was charming. I loved it.
706
00:36:15,386 --> 00:36:19,221
I'm sure I overdid it
But I don't regret it now.
707
00:36:22,860 --> 00:36:27,423
She was the best baker.
Particularly with sweet things.
708
00:36:27,865 --> 00:36:29,800
And he made the best carrot cake.
709
00:36:29,967 --> 00:36:30,900
He's still the best.
710
00:36:31,235 --> 00:36:33,727
Nobody, not even my sister,
that is close.
711
00:36:33,871 --> 00:36:35,464
They don't put enough carrots in it!
712
00:36:40,678 --> 00:36:43,512
There were young boys
in college...
713
00:36:43,914 --> 00:36:45,974
...they paid me 25 dollars
714
00:36:46,484 --> 00:36:47,577
for one of my cakes.
715
00:36:48,285 --> 00:36:51,016
They always told me: «Toni,
whatever you do in life,
716
00:36:51,455 --> 00:36:55,449
you will always be the woman
who bakes my cakes.
717
00:36:59,597 --> 00:37:03,591
I studied English literature
at Howard University.
718
00:37:03,768 --> 00:37:08,900
But in the drama department,
They read things differently.
719
00:37:09,907 --> 00:37:12,638
You must know the feelings,
you must know the conflicts,
720
00:37:12,843 --> 00:37:15,278
you must know all the subtleties
721
00:37:15,446 --> 00:37:16,505
that language has,
722
00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:18,706
but you express them
physically and stuff.
723
00:37:19,483 --> 00:37:22,453
So I always preferred
the drama department
724
00:37:22,787 --> 00:37:24,415
and Howard's Actors.
725
00:37:26,524 --> 00:37:30,052
She was very good at a role,
that of Queen Elizabeth.
726
00:37:31,395 --> 00:37:32,385
It was excellent.
727
00:37:32,530 --> 00:37:34,624
HOWARD ACTORS PRESENT
KING RICHARD III BY SHAKESPEARE
728
00:37:34,732 --> 00:37:38,430
And I turned out to be a star
in that work.
729
00:37:42,306 --> 00:37:44,502
They didn't teach anything about blacks
730
00:37:44,742 --> 00:37:46,335
in the English department.
731
00:37:47,678 --> 00:37:48,839
The closer you got
732
00:37:48,979 --> 00:37:53,383
white in culture
and the academic,
733
00:37:53,617 --> 00:37:56,382
you were better
This is a school for blacks
734
00:37:56,487 --> 00:37:59,047
largely financed
by the government.
735
00:38:00,558 --> 00:38:03,050
I remember that I approached
to my Shakespeare teacher,
736
00:38:03,594 --> 00:38:07,964
which was very good,
and I described what I wanted
737
00:38:08,432 --> 00:38:10,060
write in my article.
738
00:38:11,068 --> 00:38:13,435
And I thought I would write
about black characters
739
00:38:13,604 --> 00:38:14,697
in Shakespeare.
740
00:38:15,105 --> 00:38:18,633
He got angry. He said, "What?
741
00:38:19,076 --> 00:38:20,442
No.
742
00:38:20,744 --> 00:38:22,872
As if staining
the name of Shakespeare.
743
00:38:23,347 --> 00:38:25,873
There were four characters
that I wanted to talk about.
744
00:38:26,383 --> 00:38:28,784
He didn't leave me,
so I wrote something else.
745
00:38:30,054 --> 00:38:31,613
WELCOME TO THE 23rd I.D.A. ANNUAL
746
00:38:31,722 --> 00:38:32,883
You went to Howard
747
00:38:33,057 --> 00:38:34,548
and then to Cornell.
748
00:38:35,426 --> 00:38:37,588
Did you dream of teaching,
write or what?
749
00:38:37,795 --> 00:38:39,093
- Teach.
- Teach.
750
00:38:39,463 --> 00:38:41,022
I wanted to be a teacher, and I was.
751
00:38:41,699 --> 00:38:43,065
I did it.
When I finished university...
752
00:38:43,367 --> 00:38:44,528
ARTS, MASTER
INSTRUCTOR, ENGLISH
753
00:38:44,635 --> 00:38:47,867
...I taught at the University
from South Texas and returned to Howard
754
00:38:48,105 --> 00:38:49,437
as a teacher and I stayed there
755
00:38:49,607 --> 00:38:51,132
until I couldn't stay any longer.
756
00:38:51,508 --> 00:38:52,976
- By?
- I didn't have a doctorate.
757
00:38:56,580 --> 00:38:58,515
When I taught at Princeton,
758
00:38:58,682 --> 00:39:01,151
I had a creative writing course.
759
00:39:02,386 --> 00:39:04,753
He told the students
that I didn't want
760
00:39:04,989 --> 00:39:07,083
to write anything about his life.
761
00:39:07,458 --> 00:39:09,859
I know they had been taught
to write what they know,
762
00:39:10,661 --> 00:39:12,789
but I told them not to do that.
763
00:39:13,063 --> 00:39:16,659
They didn't know anything,
so I wanted them to invent.
764
00:39:17,167 --> 00:39:21,036
I wanted them to write
about a mexican girl
765
00:39:21,605 --> 00:39:25,098
who didn't speak english,
who worked in Houston
766
00:39:25,476 --> 00:39:27,911
as a waitress, at the counter.
767
00:39:28,545 --> 00:39:30,537
It gave them ideas
768
00:39:30,648 --> 00:39:33,777
that were very different
to anything in your life.
769
00:39:34,485 --> 00:39:37,683
And I must tell you that they took it
770
00:39:37,855 --> 00:39:41,121
and they fled with it.
It was almost like an open door.
771
00:39:43,594 --> 00:39:45,187
If someone said:
"What do you think?"
772
00:39:45,663 --> 00:39:49,498
what is Toni in literature?
773
00:39:50,067 --> 00:39:53,868
I told him that I had arrived
774
00:39:54,038 --> 00:39:57,202
to an ideal place, and that place
775
00:39:57,574 --> 00:40:00,738
It was like Shakespeare,
but common.
776
00:40:01,712 --> 00:40:04,978
In ancient times,
everyone in the tragedy
777
00:40:05,816 --> 00:40:08,445
They were kings and princes,
778
00:40:08,652 --> 00:40:09,915
very important people.
779
00:40:11,121 --> 00:40:13,886
Toni's characters,
the drama level
780
00:40:14,058 --> 00:40:18,223
and tragedy was about people
who lived a common life.
781
00:40:19,463 --> 00:40:21,955
Black people, poor people,
women, men, whatever.
782
00:40:22,099 --> 00:40:26,093
But the important thing was
which was common.
783
00:40:29,873 --> 00:40:31,808
They had never been seen before.
784
00:40:32,710 --> 00:40:35,145
And something else had not been seen,
785
00:40:36,080 --> 00:40:37,605
that is, a book
786
00:40:37,915 --> 00:40:40,475
that turned around
of women's friendship.
787
00:40:41,652 --> 00:40:42,915
That was the main course.
788
00:40:44,955 --> 00:40:46,856
It puts women
in the center of those...
789
00:40:46,957 --> 00:40:47,981
PAULA GIDDINGS
AUTHOR
790
00:40:48,125 --> 00:40:48,990
...epic narratives.
791
00:40:52,997 --> 00:40:54,522
She said that if you didn't understand
792
00:40:54,698 --> 00:40:57,258
the history of women
African Americans,
793
00:40:57,835 --> 00:40:59,804
You didn't understand US history.
794
00:41:04,742 --> 00:41:06,142
Covers four centuries.
795
00:41:06,744 --> 00:41:09,043
In his work, he covers four centuries.
796
00:41:12,783 --> 00:41:17,949
And what it does is get in
at that time...
797
00:41:19,857 --> 00:41:21,086
...and those places...
798
00:41:24,094 --> 00:41:25,995
...and reimagine.
799
00:41:30,167 --> 00:41:33,001
Imagine the past
because the past has been broken.
800
00:41:33,203 --> 00:41:35,035
The record of the past,
of your people,
801
00:41:35,205 --> 00:41:37,800
has been demoted,
has been burned.
802
00:41:37,908 --> 00:41:39,137
It has been taken from them.
803
00:41:41,845 --> 00:41:43,575
And therefore, you need Toni
804
00:41:43,747 --> 00:41:48,151
that reaches that past
and imagine it historically
805
00:41:48,552 --> 00:41:51,215
gathering fragments,
pieces and narrative
806
00:41:51,622 --> 00:41:53,853
that the world
and the white people's libraries,
807
00:41:54,024 --> 00:41:55,253
they have ignored
and kept away.
808
00:41:57,795 --> 00:41:59,991
When I taught at Howard,
809
00:42:00,130 --> 00:42:04,591
I got married, I had my children
and I got divorced.
810
00:42:04,768 --> 00:42:06,760
NEW YORK BOOK REVIEW
811
00:42:06,870 --> 00:42:08,168
I had subscribed...
812
00:42:08,272 --> 00:42:09,331
ALFRED KAZIN
ABOUT HENRY ADAMS
813
00:42:09,640 --> 00:42:11,268
...to Book Review
from New York...
814
00:42:11,608 --> 00:42:12,268
JANUARY 14, 1965
815
00:42:12,576 --> 00:42:15,740
...before I left
from Washington with my children
816
00:42:16,146 --> 00:42:17,910
and I will move in with my mother.
817
00:42:18,148 --> 00:42:19,116
GREETINGS FROM
LORAIN OHIO
818
00:42:19,216 --> 00:42:24,211
One day, they appeared
three copies of the same edition
819
00:42:24,655 --> 00:42:26,954
in my mother's mailbox.
820
00:42:27,791 --> 00:42:29,919
And I thought it was weird...
821
00:42:31,228 --> 00:42:33,254
...but I looked at it
and in the back
822
00:42:33,363 --> 00:42:34,592
there were advertisements.
823
00:42:34,698 --> 00:42:36,326
BOOK REVIEW
RECEIVE CLASSIFIED ADVERTISERS
824
00:42:36,633 --> 00:42:38,659
...for professional jobs.
825
00:42:38,802 --> 00:42:39,667
WRITERS...
826
00:42:40,604 --> 00:42:43,768
And there was a vacancy among them
827
00:42:44,374 --> 00:42:46,240
for a job in Syracuse.
828
00:42:48,078 --> 00:42:52,243
"A major publisher
Request an executive editor.
829
00:42:52,983 --> 00:42:55,316
Man or woman.
830
00:42:55,886 --> 00:42:59,220
They are needed
originality and imagination.
831
00:42:59,957 --> 00:43:04,986
We prefer a person
between 35 and 45 years old
832
00:43:05,162 --> 00:43:07,063
with a master's degree.
833
00:43:07,731 --> 00:43:11,190
You want something
of teaching experience.
834
00:43:11,735 --> 00:43:15,968
All answers will be
kept in strict confidence.
835
00:43:16,306 --> 00:43:20,767
Box Z
New York Book Review.
836
00:43:21,378 --> 00:43:25,145
And I remember saying:
"It could be me."
837
00:43:29,119 --> 00:43:30,178
SISTER ROSETTA THARPE 1964
838
00:43:45,435 --> 00:43:48,872
I left my children at home with my mother.
839
00:43:50,107 --> 00:43:54,010
My sister and I
We got into my dad's car,
840
00:43:54,845 --> 00:43:56,905
had an Oldsmobile
at that time,
841
00:43:57,748 --> 00:43:58,841
that he appreciated,
842
00:43:59,016 --> 00:44:02,282
since the car he had had
I didn't have brakes before
843
00:44:03,053 --> 00:44:05,284
and we had to jump out
every time we arrived
844
00:44:05,455 --> 00:44:08,721
to the place where he took us
845
00:44:09,092 --> 00:44:11,960
or when I turned the corner,
He said: "Now."
846
00:44:12,930 --> 00:44:14,159
So now we had a car.
847
00:44:14,831 --> 00:44:16,356
My sister and I drove...
848
00:44:17,167 --> 00:44:18,897
...to Syracuse.
849
00:44:19,036 --> 00:44:20,231
SYRACUSE
NEW YORK
850
00:44:20,337 --> 00:44:23,364
I had the interview
and they gave me the job.
851
00:44:25,008 --> 00:44:26,237
GREETINGS FROM SYRACUSE,
NEW YORK
852
00:44:26,343 --> 00:44:28,005
That's how I started working there
853
00:44:28,478 --> 00:44:30,310
before Random House
854
00:44:30,847 --> 00:44:33,180
would buy the company,
what was called
855
00:44:33,383 --> 00:44:35,181
the company L.W. Singer,
856
00:44:35,786 --> 00:44:37,482
and they all had to go to New York,
857
00:44:37,888 --> 00:44:39,857
those who wanted to go to New York.
858
00:44:40,958 --> 00:44:42,324
And they took me.
859
00:44:49,733 --> 00:44:51,258
I was in a team of secretaries
860
00:44:51,501 --> 00:44:54,164
at Random House in 1969.
861
00:44:55,239 --> 00:44:57,834
Toni came and was the editor
in the commercial division
862
00:44:58,041 --> 00:45:00,272
on the floor where
I was working.
863
00:45:00,911 --> 00:45:02,743
My friends and I
we get to know her better
864
00:45:02,913 --> 00:45:04,939
when one day he approached
to ask us
865
00:45:05,115 --> 00:45:06,743
that we type something for it.
866
00:45:07,050 --> 00:45:08,313
We told him: "Sure."
867
00:45:08,452 --> 00:45:11,786
And she said, "If they type it,
I will go to your apartment
868
00:45:11,922 --> 00:45:13,481
and I will prepare them
the best carrot cake
869
00:45:13,890 --> 00:45:14,949
that they have eaten in their life.
870
00:45:15,359 --> 00:45:16,952
It seemed to us
which was a good deal.
871
00:45:17,127 --> 00:45:18,789
Without a doubt, Toni came one day
872
00:45:18,962 --> 00:45:20,897
and did the best
carrot cake of life.
873
00:45:21,064 --> 00:45:22,532
Still... I've never eaten one like it.
874
00:45:22,899 --> 00:45:25,835
It wasn't until some time later that I realized
875
00:45:26,003 --> 00:45:28,268
What were we typing about?
part of Blue Eyes.
876
00:45:28,438 --> 00:45:30,998
Now I know THERE ARE NO CALENDULA
IN THE FALL OF 1941.
877
00:45:34,544 --> 00:45:39,505
In 1970, he was 39.
Toni was 39 years old.
878
00:45:40,183 --> 00:45:41,913
We both worked
at Random House.
879
00:45:42,319 --> 00:45:44,788
Within the set
Random House, is
880
00:45:44,921 --> 00:45:47,891
Alfred Knopf, who I directed
for many years.
881
00:45:47,991 --> 00:45:51,052
Vintage, Doubleday.
It has many parts.
882
00:45:51,194 --> 00:45:52,890
MRS. TONI MORRISON
EDITOR-RANDOM HOUSE
883
00:45:53,030 --> 00:45:56,330
Toni was an editor
of what we call Little Random
884
00:45:56,533 --> 00:45:58,297
and I directed Alfred Knopf.
885
00:45:59,102 --> 00:46:01,264
I thought: «They don't know
I'm a writer.
886
00:46:02,539 --> 00:46:04,235
And I will continue like this.
887
00:46:05,275 --> 00:46:06,903
They want an editor.
888
00:46:07,144 --> 00:46:10,046
They don't want a writer.
Editors are not writers.
889
00:46:10,414 --> 00:46:12,508
So I don't tell anyone.
Do I think that works?
890
00:46:12,883 --> 00:46:14,010
No.
891
00:46:16,420 --> 00:46:17,945
NOVEMBER 30, 1970 / 50 CENTS
892
00:46:18,088 --> 00:46:19,886
I became aware that I was a writer
893
00:46:19,990 --> 00:46:22,186
when he published Ojos Azules.
894
00:46:22,326 --> 00:46:24,158
164 PAGES. HOLT, RINEHART
AND WINSTON. $5.95.
895
00:46:24,261 --> 00:46:26,253
And of course,
since she was a colleague,
896
00:46:26,963 --> 00:46:28,329
I read it quickly.
897
00:46:29,232 --> 00:46:31,030
I thought it was wonderful.
898
00:46:32,402 --> 00:46:33,961
And after printing
What caused me...
899
00:46:34,071 --> 00:46:35,061
BOOKS
BEGINNER'S LUCK
900
00:46:35,172 --> 00:46:38,336
...the then boss of everything
Random House, Bob Bernstein,
901
00:46:38,508 --> 00:46:39,999
said quite wisely:
902
00:46:40,110 --> 00:46:43,137
«We have a wonderful writer
who works for us,
903
00:46:43,313 --> 00:46:47,148
"we should publish it,"
but it couldn't be Little Random
904
00:46:47,317 --> 00:46:48,478
because she worked there,
905
00:46:49,086 --> 00:46:51,578
so Knopf, who was
a more literary division,
906
00:46:52,155 --> 00:46:54,124
it was the obvious place,
I was the editor-in-chief
907
00:46:54,291 --> 00:46:57,193
and it was a natural meeting
because we knew each other.
908
00:46:58,995 --> 00:47:00,930
And with the exception of one novel,
909
00:47:01,098 --> 00:47:03,033
I edited all his books
since then.
910
00:47:06,403 --> 00:47:08,133
He is the best editor there is,
911
00:47:08,438 --> 00:47:10,964
and Knopf was a very...
912
00:47:11,875 --> 00:47:14,174
...special, so
I was very lucky
913
00:47:14,978 --> 00:47:20,440
to be at the top as an author
with an editor,
914
00:47:21,284 --> 00:47:22,547
and below as editor.
915
00:47:22,886 --> 00:47:25,549
RANDOM HOUSE, INC.
TONI MORRISON. - EDITOR
916
00:47:25,655 --> 00:47:27,283
THANK YOU FOR SENDING US
BLACK REPAIRS.
917
00:47:27,391 --> 00:47:28,450
TONI MORRISON
CHIEF EDITOR
918
00:47:28,558 --> 00:47:29,958
I did both things well
919
00:47:30,260 --> 00:47:31,956
because I could see the difference.
920
00:47:32,129 --> 00:47:33,324
The assumption is
that when you edit
921
00:47:33,497 --> 00:47:35,898
someone else's book,
you put your own stuff.
922
00:47:36,366 --> 00:47:37,493
I made that separation
923
00:47:37,667 --> 00:47:39,397
because I was a teacher for a long time.
924
00:47:39,536 --> 00:47:41,129
AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES
925
00:47:41,271 --> 00:47:43,137
You look at the work
of the students. It's not yours.
926
00:47:43,240 --> 00:47:44,538
TEACHER-OFFICE: 110
DICKINSON ROOM
927
00:47:44,641 --> 00:47:47,270
You make the distinction
between the two arts.
928
00:47:47,377 --> 00:47:48,470
COURSE DESCRIPTION
929
00:47:48,612 --> 00:47:49,545
She was very good at that.
930
00:47:54,284 --> 00:47:56,947
Once, I heard two people
talking about Toni...
931
00:47:58,321 --> 00:48:00,017
The first one said:
932
00:48:00,357 --> 00:48:05,227
"I love Toni Morrison
because his novels
933
00:48:05,595 --> 00:48:08,121
"They transcend race."
934
00:48:10,467 --> 00:48:12,163
And the next person said...
935
00:48:13,437 --> 00:48:14,632
...«I love Ton Morrison
936
00:48:15,205 --> 00:48:17,106
because he is not afraid
of being black.
937
00:48:17,607 --> 00:48:20,372
And the whole room applauded.
938
00:48:20,477 --> 00:48:23,641
It was the experience
more wonderful.
939
00:48:32,022 --> 00:48:34,253
The Civil Rights Movement
had been transformed
940
00:48:34,357 --> 00:48:36,326
in the Black Power movement.
941
00:48:36,526 --> 00:48:38,358
THE BLACK REVOLUTION
942
00:48:39,296 --> 00:48:42,198
So it was a period
very confrontational...
943
00:48:42,599 --> 00:48:44,124
SEPARATION?
INTEGRATION? RELEASE?
944
00:48:44,234 --> 00:48:46,465
A lot of rethinking
of what race meant.
945
00:48:46,570 --> 00:48:47,663
WHICH SIDE
USA BLACK?
946
00:48:47,971 --> 00:48:50,600
What the race relationship
It was for the country and the state.
947
00:48:52,409 --> 00:48:54,002
FREE HUEY
948
00:48:54,578 --> 00:48:57,138
They were also emerging
important black leaders,
949
00:48:57,481 --> 00:48:59,712
and talking about
a very different way
950
00:49:00,083 --> 00:49:02,348
to think about the protest...
951
00:49:03,620 --> 00:49:06,249
...and how to change the country.
952
00:49:06,423 --> 00:49:07,584
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE TIME
BOBBY SEALE
953
00:49:07,691 --> 00:49:10,752
It was an extraordinary moment,
a very exciting moment.
954
00:49:11,661 --> 00:49:14,426
Many people
began to publish.
955
00:49:14,998 --> 00:49:18,264
The Black Power movement
It focused on men.
956
00:49:18,535 --> 00:49:20,367
The predominant movement
of white women
957
00:49:20,470 --> 00:49:23,201
focused on white women
and there was always the question
958
00:49:23,607 --> 00:49:26,338
where they belonged
white women and women of color
959
00:49:26,510 --> 00:49:28,706
in general in this period.
960
00:49:36,253 --> 00:49:38,085
I believe that his profound contribution
961
00:49:38,255 --> 00:49:41,487
to the American publisher
has a lot to do with it
962
00:49:41,658 --> 00:49:43,354
with the voices that she brought
963
00:49:44,027 --> 00:49:45,757
to a largely white institution.
964
00:49:46,363 --> 00:49:48,389
Gayl Jones, Lucille Clifton,
965
00:49:48,598 --> 00:49:51,295
Toni Cade Bambara, Angela Davis.
966
00:49:51,801 --> 00:49:54,430
These were all his female writers.
967
00:49:55,539 --> 00:49:58,407
As editor, she said:
«It doesn't have to be like this.
968
00:49:58,642 --> 00:50:00,440
Let's tear down the walls
from the ivory tower,
969
00:50:00,677 --> 00:50:03,112
let's get all these people together
970
00:50:03,346 --> 00:50:05,508
and let's make a kind
literary wave.
971
00:50:12,656 --> 00:50:13,521
I've heard her say...
972
00:50:13,657 --> 00:50:14,488
FREE ANGELA
973
00:50:14,658 --> 00:50:18,060
..."And I'm not on the street,
in the trenches.
974
00:50:18,328 --> 00:50:21,492
I'm not marching.
What can I do where I am?
975
00:50:21,665 --> 00:50:24,464
And therein lies the lesson, yes.
What can we do where we are?
976
00:50:26,303 --> 00:50:28,169
Where I am, I am an editor.
977
00:50:29,139 --> 00:50:31,404
I thought it was important
978
00:50:31,575 --> 00:50:33,840
that people are in the streets.
979
00:50:34,844 --> 00:50:37,439
But they couldn't last.
980
00:50:37,581 --> 00:50:38,742
FEMALE LIBERATION
981
00:50:39,082 --> 00:50:40,448
You need registration.
982
00:50:41,651 --> 00:50:45,782
It would be my job to publish the voices,
983
00:50:46,256 --> 00:50:49,818
the books, the ideas
of African Americans
984
00:50:50,160 --> 00:50:51,492
and that would last.
985
00:50:54,164 --> 00:50:56,156
He addressed me
986
00:50:56,366 --> 00:50:57,834
from Random House
987
00:50:58,201 --> 00:51:02,502
with the proposal to write
an autobiography,
988
00:51:02,739 --> 00:51:05,334
What should I say I thought?
that at that moment
989
00:51:05,542 --> 00:51:07,101
It was quite absurd.
990
00:51:07,310 --> 00:51:10,303
who writes
an autobiography at 28 years old?
991
00:51:11,348 --> 00:51:14,318
In the US, supporters
of the Black Liberation movement
992
00:51:14,484 --> 00:51:15,679
they are increasing the pressure
993
00:51:15,852 --> 00:51:18,253
in the campaign to free
to Angela Davis,
994
00:51:18,488 --> 00:51:20,582
the black philosophy professor
and communist,
995
00:51:20,857 --> 00:51:23,725
who now faces a charge
for homicide in California.
996
00:51:24,728 --> 00:51:28,665
Toni Morrison can be
extremely persuasive.
997
00:51:28,865 --> 00:51:32,302
Finally he convinced me
that the book
998
00:51:32,502 --> 00:51:36,872
what I wanted to publish
It was the book I wanted to write.
999
00:51:37,273 --> 00:51:39,708
I just didn't know
of him at that moment.
1000
00:51:39,909 --> 00:51:41,207
ANGELA DAVIS
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
1001
00:51:41,311 --> 00:51:44,372
She taught me about the importance
of the imagination
1002
00:51:44,547 --> 00:51:47,244
in ways that were
radically different.
1003
00:51:47,384 --> 00:51:50,252
I. ARRIVAL AT HAMILTON AIR BASE
Il. JAIL
1004
00:51:50,387 --> 00:51:53,152
He was looking at something I had written
1005
00:51:53,657 --> 00:51:55,182
and she was trying...
1006
00:51:55,291 --> 00:51:56,281
REAL PHYSICAL
1007
00:51:56,393 --> 00:51:57,827
...help me make it more evocative
1008
00:51:58,228 --> 00:52:00,220
and not simply analytical.
1009
00:52:00,363 --> 00:52:01,626
deeply PHYSICAL
1010
00:52:01,831 --> 00:52:04,357
IT WAS A LONG BATTLE...
I DID NOT LEAVE THIS CELL
1011
00:52:04,501 --> 00:52:05,730
UNTIL LATE AFTERNOON
1012
00:52:05,835 --> 00:52:07,667
She asked questions like:
1013
00:52:07,871 --> 00:52:10,864
Where were you?
What was in the room?
1014
00:52:11,241 --> 00:52:13,836
What furniture was there?
What colors were there?
1015
00:52:14,678 --> 00:52:16,374
How did you feel?
1016
00:52:17,414 --> 00:52:18,712
What smell was there?
1017
00:52:19,582 --> 00:52:24,350
And then, it helped me
to access my imagination
1018
00:52:24,554 --> 00:52:28,423
so I continue
giving thanks today.
1019
00:52:29,959 --> 00:52:31,860
LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO MY SONG
JOHN MCCLUSKEY
1020
00:52:31,961 --> 00:52:33,452
DIE FOR PEOPLE
HUEY P. NEWTON
1021
00:52:33,596 --> 00:52:34,859
WIND ROPE
AND OTHER STORIES
1022
00:52:34,964 --> 00:52:36,523
THE CASE FOR BLACK REPAIRS
1023
00:52:36,633 --> 00:52:38,329
SEXIST JUSTICE
KAREN DECROW
1024
00:52:38,468 --> 00:52:39,868
GEORGE JACKSON
BLOOD IN MY EYE
1025
00:52:40,236 --> 00:52:41,226
LESBIAN MYTH
BETTIE WYSON
1026
00:52:41,337 --> 00:52:42,965
She edits them,
does the marketing,
1027
00:52:43,339 --> 00:52:44,500
choose the covers.
1028
00:52:44,841 --> 00:52:49,336
He takes care of his writers
as it was done before.
1029
00:52:50,547 --> 00:52:52,948
She is the architect and the midwife...
1030
00:52:53,983 --> 00:52:55,281
...and the artist.
1031
00:52:55,985 --> 00:52:57,920
Place Angela Davis books
1032
00:52:58,221 --> 00:53:00,952
on a table, has
a small silver beret
1033
00:53:01,558 --> 00:53:02,821
and she is the editor.
1034
00:53:03,560 --> 00:53:05,722
Angela is the star,
and she is the editor...
1035
00:53:07,363 --> 00:53:08,592
...sitting
lighting a cigarette
1036
00:53:08,698 --> 00:53:12,794
and watching how Angela Davis
It's Angela for the camera.
1037
00:53:13,803 --> 00:53:16,637
That was his job,
and did his job.
1038
00:53:18,575 --> 00:53:21,568
I think that how success came to him
1039
00:53:21,878 --> 00:53:24,575
relatively late, she was an adult.
1040
00:53:26,783 --> 00:53:28,649
When I met Toni,
I was still working
1041
00:53:28,752 --> 00:53:30,243
at Random House as editor.
1042
00:53:30,553 --> 00:53:31,919
But my editor called me and said:
1043
00:53:32,355 --> 00:53:33,721
«I received a call from Bob Bernstein.
1044
00:53:33,857 --> 00:53:34,881
CULTURAL CRITICISM
1045
00:53:34,991 --> 00:53:37,324
You must stop frequenting
Toni Morrison's office.
1046
00:53:37,427 --> 00:53:38,588
He doesn't finish his work.
1047
00:53:38,695 --> 00:53:40,596
They spend all day
smoking and talking.
1048
00:53:44,400 --> 00:53:46,960
Toni did a promotional tour
from the book with Muhammad Ali.
1049
00:53:48,638 --> 00:53:50,698
Toni published the book
by Muhammad Ali.
1050
00:53:51,508 --> 00:53:53,739
There has been a first impression
of 100,000 copies...
1051
00:53:53,843 --> 00:53:55,471
THE BEST: MY OWN STORY
MUHAMMAD ALI
1052
00:53:55,578 --> 00:53:57,444
...and there will be
a second impression
1053
00:53:57,680 --> 00:54:00,445
of 25,000 copies, and one month left
1054
00:54:00,617 --> 00:54:02,916
- for publication.
- When I met him,
1055
00:54:03,319 --> 00:54:04,787
and I asked him a question,
1056
00:54:04,888 --> 00:54:06,789
he responded
and looked at a man...
1057
00:54:07,590 --> 00:54:09,286
...and he never looked at me
directly to me...
1058
00:54:10,059 --> 00:54:12,324
...while answering.
1059
00:54:13,897 --> 00:54:16,526
But then he remembered that he respects
to older women...
1060
00:54:16,633 --> 00:54:17,828
ALI SAVES CENTER FOR SENIORS HERE
1061
00:54:17,967 --> 00:54:19,026
He doesn't answer me
1062
00:54:19,435 --> 00:54:20,994
because I'm not
in this other category.
1063
00:54:21,638 --> 00:54:25,006
But I'm like your mother
or an older woman...
1064
00:54:26,009 --> 00:54:29,411
...I just crossed my arms. So
So I entered the room and asked him:
1065
00:54:29,579 --> 00:54:31,411
«Ali, get up from there.
1066
00:54:32,482 --> 00:54:34,815
"You have something to do."
He looked up
1067
00:54:35,351 --> 00:54:37,650
and he recognized something else...
1068
00:54:38,555 --> 00:54:42,322
...to an adult,
a larger version of the...
1069
00:54:43,526 --> 00:54:44,459
...girl.
1070
00:54:45,995 --> 00:54:48,464
And from there,
He did everything I said.
1071
00:54:50,733 --> 00:54:52,361
And everyone loved those jokes,
1072
00:54:52,468 --> 00:54:56,838
but inside there was a man
completely understanding,
1073
00:54:57,674 --> 00:54:59,666
affectionate and kind.
1074
00:55:09,719 --> 00:55:12,689
Navigating a world
of white men
1075
00:55:13,022 --> 00:55:15,958
it was not threatening.
It wasn't even interesting.
1076
00:55:17,594 --> 00:55:19,927
I was more interesting than them.
1077
00:55:20,630 --> 00:55:22,496
I knew more than them.
1078
00:55:23,366 --> 00:55:24,857
And I wasn't afraid to show it.
1079
00:55:27,670 --> 00:55:28,933
You have to be a little tough
1080
00:55:29,672 --> 00:55:31,038
and trust in yourself...
1081
00:55:31,808 --> 00:55:33,071
...and say no to people.
1082
00:55:34,043 --> 00:55:36,603
Don't you want to give me the money
because I am a woman
1083
00:55:36,813 --> 00:55:38,577
and men receive more?
1084
00:55:39,649 --> 00:55:40,617
No.
1085
00:55:45,822 --> 00:55:49,623
The first job I had
in a publishing house, L.W. Singer...
1086
00:55:50,493 --> 00:55:53,395
I noticed that the men in the company
1087
00:55:53,863 --> 00:55:55,126
they charged more
1088
00:55:55,932 --> 00:55:59,528
than me when
the increases were distributed.
1089
00:56:03,106 --> 00:56:05,098
So I went to my boss.
1090
00:56:06,976 --> 00:56:08,410
And I said to him: «You did not increase me
1091
00:56:08,611 --> 00:56:10,773
as well as my colleagues
that they are men.
1092
00:56:10,980 --> 00:56:13,040
And he said: "Yes, but..."
And I said: «No.
1093
00:56:13,182 --> 00:56:15,515
I don't want to hear any 'buts'.
I want to tell you something.
1094
00:56:15,785 --> 00:56:21,088
I am head of the family like you.
1095
00:56:26,062 --> 00:56:30,591
Maybe you think I'm colored
or woman or whatever.
1096
00:56:30,800 --> 00:56:36,171
I am head of the family like you.
1097
00:56:37,840 --> 00:56:39,206
Yes, I got the raise.
1098
00:56:46,449 --> 00:56:48,941
You raised your two children.
1099
00:56:49,686 --> 00:56:50,813
Your husband is gone,
1100
00:56:50,987 --> 00:56:54,515
and you had to raise
your two children, right?
1101
00:56:54,657 --> 00:56:55,590
FORD AND SLADE MORRISON
1102
00:56:55,692 --> 00:56:56,660
It was terrible.
1103
00:56:56,826 --> 00:56:58,089
- Yeah?
- It was very hard.
1104
00:56:58,761 --> 00:56:59,626
Frightening.
1105
00:56:59,729 --> 00:57:01,595
Tell me, what were you appealing to?
to achieve it?
1106
00:57:01,764 --> 00:57:02,663
To my family.
1107
00:57:03,466 --> 00:57:06,800
My brothers, my mother,
my grandfather, my sisters.
1108
00:57:06,903 --> 00:57:08,735
You need everyone you know.
1109
00:57:10,139 --> 00:57:13,109
He lived in New York.
I worked as an editor.
1110
00:57:13,209 --> 00:57:15,701
I went back and forth to Yale teaching.
1111
00:57:16,012 --> 00:57:18,140
So I had to send them
home in the summer.
1112
00:57:19,148 --> 00:57:20,741
My family had to come.
1113
00:57:21,584 --> 00:57:22,882
Even so...
1114
00:57:24,220 --> 00:57:25,483
...it was difficult.
1115
00:57:28,992 --> 00:57:30,722
Toni wrote many of these books
1116
00:57:30,927 --> 00:57:33,055
with two small children at home.
1117
00:57:33,563 --> 00:57:36,089
And also, Toni had a period
that he had invented for himself,
1118
00:57:36,599 --> 00:57:37,623
don't close the door
1119
00:57:38,201 --> 00:57:40,193
where was I working
so that the children
1120
00:57:40,670 --> 00:57:43,970
they didn't feel that
They did not have permission to enter.
1121
00:57:47,510 --> 00:57:50,503
I was working
in Song of Solomon
1122
00:57:50,813 --> 00:57:53,009
and they had recently published Sula.
1123
00:57:53,850 --> 00:57:55,876
I prepared breakfast for them
to the children.
1124
00:57:56,085 --> 00:57:58,077
And suddenly, he turned around,
1125
00:57:58,254 --> 00:58:01,691
picked up a pen
and wrote something down.
1126
00:58:02,992 --> 00:58:07,191
I often went with her
to his office at Random House.
1127
00:58:08,097 --> 00:58:11,261
We were driving
to New York City.
1128
00:58:12,735 --> 00:58:15,102
Traffic stopped on the bridge.
1129
00:58:15,271 --> 00:58:18,639
She took a pen
back in the car,
1130
00:58:18,741 --> 00:58:21,040
put a piece of paper on the steering wheel
1131
00:58:21,210 --> 00:58:22,610
and wrote something down.
1132
00:58:23,846 --> 00:58:25,712
He did this constantly.
1133
00:58:28,051 --> 00:58:30,077
Then when I read
Song of Solomon,
1134
00:58:30,253 --> 00:58:32,188
I said, “That was a miracle.”
1135
00:58:34,057 --> 00:58:36,151
I don't know where it comes from
the energy of this woman
1136
00:58:36,325 --> 00:58:37,657
to raise two children,
1137
00:58:37,894 --> 00:58:40,125
contribute to other people of color,
1138
00:58:40,296 --> 00:58:41,628
and write these novels.
1139
00:58:41,798 --> 00:58:43,061
He said, "It's not that I'm doing
1140
00:58:43,166 --> 00:58:45,032
many different things.
I'm doing one thing,
1141
00:58:45,201 --> 00:58:48,194
that is, teach books,
I write books, I edit books.
1142
00:58:48,771 --> 00:58:50,763
If you can think of it like that,
1143
00:58:50,873 --> 00:58:52,774
It is much more manageable.
1144
00:58:54,844 --> 00:58:56,710
I remember sitting
in my office
1145
00:58:57,146 --> 00:58:59,877
at Random House
with a pad of sheets...
1146
00:59:00,983 --> 00:59:02,918
...and I wrote on the left side
1147
00:59:03,119 --> 00:59:04,678
everything I had to do.
1148
00:59:05,021 --> 00:59:07,923
Take care of my children,
go to the store,
1149
00:59:08,024 --> 00:59:10,653
pay the bills,
edit this, write this
1150
00:59:10,760 --> 00:59:12,092
and covered the page.
1151
00:59:12,795 --> 00:59:13,888
And then I said:
1152
00:59:14,330 --> 00:59:18,734
«Of that number,
What do you have to do?
1153
00:59:19,669 --> 00:59:20,864
And there were only two things...
1154
00:59:21,971 --> 00:59:23,269
...take care of my children
1155
00:59:24,107 --> 00:59:25,006
and write.
1156
00:59:25,675 --> 00:59:28,008
And crossed out anything
that it wasn't that.
1157
00:59:29,645 --> 00:59:31,204
2.50
0.18
1158
00:59:31,347 --> 00:59:34,681
If you see that the title does not sell,
you get rid of it.
1159
00:59:34,817 --> 00:59:36,649
If you sell, you order more.
1160
00:59:36,752 --> 00:59:37,947
And you know your clientele,
1161
00:59:38,054 --> 00:59:40,182
you find out the story
of past sales of a book.
1162
00:59:40,890 --> 00:59:43,826
I remember sitting
in a conference room.
1163
00:59:44,694 --> 00:59:47,289
One of the sellers said:
«We cannot sell
1164
00:59:47,897 --> 00:59:49,866
certain books
on both sides of the street.
1165
00:59:49,966 --> 00:59:51,195
AFRICAN BOOKSTORE
IN NATIONAL MEMORY
1166
00:59:51,300 --> 00:59:53,235
That is, there is an audience
of white people,
1167
00:59:53,336 --> 00:59:55,805
maybe an audience of black people,
1168
00:59:56,139 --> 00:59:57,801
but they don't merge.
1169
00:59:57,974 --> 00:59:59,636
So I thought:
"Well, I'll figure it out."
1170
00:59:59,775 --> 01:00:02,142
And I'll do something that everyone loves,
1171
01:00:02,378 --> 01:00:03,903
particularly black people.
1172
01:00:04,046 --> 01:00:05,173
THE BLACK BOOK
1173
01:00:05,681 --> 01:00:08,947
The Black Book
it was a radical book
1174
01:00:09,051 --> 01:00:13,113
because she doesn't give us
a contextualization of blackness.
1175
01:00:13,289 --> 01:00:14,313
It's just like that.
1176
01:00:14,657 --> 01:00:16,319
I WAS WHEN THE ANGEL
TOOK OUT THE ANCESTOR
1177
01:00:16,425 --> 01:00:18,326
I WAS WHEN THE WATERS
THEY CONSUMED THE MOUNTAINS
1178
01:00:18,895 --> 01:00:21,421
You open the book and there are photos
1179
01:00:21,731 --> 01:00:26,294
of black memories,
sculptures of the continent,
1180
01:00:26,936 --> 01:00:28,268
black jeans...
1181
01:00:29,839 --> 01:00:30,863
...scores...
1182
01:00:31,274 --> 01:00:32,708
THE FUNNY LITTLE BLACKS
1183
01:00:32,875 --> 01:00:34,241
...racist scores...
1184
01:00:35,244 --> 01:00:38,408
...it's the mess that it is
the life of the African American.
1185
01:00:43,920 --> 01:00:47,948
There was no single narrative.
It was everything.
1186
01:00:48,124 --> 01:00:50,389
BLACK RIDERS WHO WON
THE KENTUCKY DERBY
1187
01:00:50,726 --> 01:00:53,389
ALL THE BEAUTIFUL HORSES
1188
01:00:53,763 --> 01:00:55,288
It gives us a file.
1189
01:00:55,431 --> 01:00:56,455
THE SLAVE
BY THOMAS JEFFERSON
1190
01:00:56,766 --> 01:00:58,291
There it is. There are the documents.
1191
01:00:58,467 --> 01:01:00,231
This is from some people
to whom they told
1192
01:01:00,369 --> 01:01:02,167
that have no history.
Well, here it is.
1193
01:01:02,271 --> 01:01:03,796
SLAVE TAX REVENUE
VIRGINIA
1194
01:01:03,906 --> 01:01:05,306
It's something like... there used to be
1195
01:01:05,474 --> 01:01:08,034
an African American museum,
here it is.
1196
01:01:08,177 --> 01:01:10,203
PUBLIC SALES OF BLACKS
1197
01:01:10,313 --> 01:01:14,250
It is a study of the aspects
emotional and survival
1198
01:01:14,350 --> 01:01:15,875
of the blacks.
1199
01:01:15,985 --> 01:01:17,715
WE MUST TAKE A PATH
AND WE HAVE LITTLE TIME
1200
01:01:17,853 --> 01:01:19,287
It reminds me of who I am.
1201
01:01:22,725 --> 01:01:26,093
I had a brother who passed away
about a year in jail.
1202
01:01:26,262 --> 01:01:30,324
And I asked him some questions about
the language, the language of prison.
1203
01:01:30,800 --> 01:01:32,769
He answered me and I put it in the book.
1204
01:01:33,035 --> 01:01:34,833
My aunt wrote part of it.
1205
01:01:35,004 --> 01:01:37,166
My mother's face
It's on the cover.
1206
01:01:39,342 --> 01:01:40,469
BOOK PARTY
THE BLACK BOOK
1207
01:01:40,776 --> 01:01:42,074
It sold a lot.
1208
01:01:42,445 --> 01:01:45,176
And there were wonderful answers.
1209
01:01:45,281 --> 01:01:46,840
THE ENTIRE CATALOG OF THE BLACKS
1210
01:01:46,983 --> 01:01:50,147
I sent books to people in places
1211
01:01:50,386 --> 01:01:53,914
that the sellers did not know.
And I sent one to the cousin
1212
01:01:54,457 --> 01:01:56,983
from someone or someone
who was in jail.
1213
01:01:58,127 --> 01:02:00,358
And he wrote me a letter,
1214
01:02:01,297 --> 01:02:04,324
he thanked me
and asked me for two more copies.
1215
01:02:05,167 --> 01:02:08,968
He told me: «I need a
to throw against the wall.
1216
01:02:10,006 --> 01:02:11,235
I need another...
1217
01:02:12,141 --> 01:02:13,370
...to give to a friend.
1218
01:02:15,945 --> 01:02:19,780
And I want to hold this
against my heart."
1219
01:02:19,915 --> 01:02:21,816
I HAVE BEEN A VICTIM
THE BELGIANS CUT OFF MY HANDS
1220
01:02:21,951 --> 01:02:23,317
IN THE CONGO
THEY LYNNED ME IN TEXAS.
1221
01:02:26,289 --> 01:02:29,521
My father thought that everyone
the whites were incorrigible.
1222
01:02:30,860 --> 01:02:31,520
They were lost.
1223
01:02:32,295 --> 01:02:33,558
You can't do anything for them,
1224
01:02:33,863 --> 01:02:35,456
they will always be horrible.
1225
01:02:49,178 --> 01:02:51,374
They would never be human.
1226
01:02:51,914 --> 01:02:54,008
I remind you that
is a type that as a child
1227
01:02:54,250 --> 01:02:57,277
he saw them lynching
to two black men.
1228
01:03:04,427 --> 01:03:05,451
As a child.
1229
01:03:07,897 --> 01:03:08,956
To two businessmen.
1230
01:03:11,267 --> 01:03:13,327
They hanged them.
That's when he left...
1231
01:03:14,937 --> 01:03:15,836
...to Georgia.
1232
01:03:22,111 --> 01:03:23,841
He did not allow
whites will enter the house.
1233
01:03:25,281 --> 01:03:27,147
Like the people who come
and sells you insurance
1234
01:03:27,316 --> 01:03:29,182
and it should be there,
but if a white person
1235
01:03:29,352 --> 01:03:31,981
knocked on the door
and I wanted to sell something...
1236
01:03:35,591 --> 01:03:37,389
My mother opened the door for him,
I talked to him
1237
01:03:37,960 --> 01:03:39,121
and gave him something to eat.
1238
01:03:41,997 --> 01:03:43,124
Not my father.
1239
01:03:44,633 --> 01:03:46,625
She judged people one by one,
1240
01:03:47,002 --> 01:03:48,493
he didn't care what color it was.
1241
01:03:48,604 --> 01:03:50,038
It was something personal for her.
1242
01:03:52,341 --> 01:03:53,400
And then I have...
1243
01:03:54,377 --> 01:03:55,970
...a very strong memory.
1244
01:03:56,512 --> 01:03:58,378
I was trying to describe
1245
01:03:58,547 --> 01:04:00,345
something that happened
in a book I wrote
1246
01:04:00,449 --> 01:04:01,439
called Paradise...
1247
01:04:01,550 --> 01:04:02,449
PARADISE
FOUND
1248
01:04:02,551 --> 01:04:04,884
...where there is a community
of all blacks
1249
01:04:05,354 --> 01:04:06,982
as opposed to all the others.
1250
01:04:08,257 --> 01:04:10,123
Part of purity and power
1251
01:04:10,393 --> 01:04:13,989
and all the pride
of that black community
1252
01:04:14,530 --> 01:04:16,624
it is a species
of something flourishing
1253
01:04:16,932 --> 01:04:18,332
that my great-grandmother told.
1254
01:04:19,335 --> 01:04:22,169
She was a midwife in Flint, Michigan.
1255
01:04:23,205 --> 01:04:25,538
He was coming to the city.
1256
01:04:26,509 --> 01:04:29,911
He entered the room
and all the men stopped.
1257
01:04:30,646 --> 01:04:33,480
my sister and me
We were on the floor playing.
1258
01:04:34,016 --> 01:04:35,450
My mother was in the living room...
1259
01:04:36,385 --> 01:04:39,082
...and my great-grandmother came in
in the room with his cane,
1260
01:04:39,388 --> 01:04:41,948
He looked at my sister and me...
1261
01:04:43,359 --> 01:04:47,091
...and said: "These girls
"They have been manipulated."
1262
01:04:49,098 --> 01:04:51,329
I didn't really know what it meant
that at that time.
1263
01:04:52,535 --> 01:04:56,199
My mother didn't like it,
but she was very dark.
1264
01:04:57,039 --> 01:04:59,531
That is, what
They used to say "blue-black."
1265
01:05:01,277 --> 01:05:04,975
And he said that we
had been stained in a certain way
1266
01:05:05,648 --> 01:05:08,675
that we were... impure.
1267
01:05:10,419 --> 01:05:12,047
That's what he said.
1268
01:05:14,290 --> 01:05:16,020
ONLY WHITE
1269
01:05:16,225 --> 01:05:18,126
ENTRANCE FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR
1270
01:05:18,294 --> 01:05:20,627
WHITE. - COLORED
1271
01:05:22,598 --> 01:05:23,588
Two drinkers?
1272
01:05:25,234 --> 01:05:27,135
In a sense, I know it wasn't true,
1273
01:05:27,269 --> 01:05:30,171
but deep down,
I thought that segregation
1274
01:05:30,272 --> 01:05:31,740
and all this physical...
1275
01:05:32,074 --> 01:05:33,007
COLORED
WAITING ROOM
1276
01:05:33,142 --> 01:05:34,508
...it was... a joke.
1277
01:05:34,643 --> 01:05:36,168
ONLY FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR
1278
01:05:38,047 --> 01:05:39,572
ENTRANCE FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR
1279
01:05:43,285 --> 01:05:49,088
To middle class white people
Black people bathed her.
1280
01:05:50,459 --> 01:05:52,018
In their bathtubs.
1281
01:05:52,261 --> 01:05:54,287
And they ate their food.
1282
01:05:54,563 --> 01:05:57,055
They did everything
and couldn't they sit next to them?
1283
01:05:58,634 --> 01:06:01,502
I mean, it seemed very strange.
1284
01:06:02,705 --> 01:06:04,435
It was true, but strange.
1285
01:06:07,243 --> 01:06:11,044
Especially for me
who came from a small town,
1286
01:06:11,547 --> 01:06:15,348
in Ohio, where
everyone I knew,
1287
01:06:15,618 --> 01:06:19,214
with whom I shopped, with
those who played were in a street
1288
01:06:19,388 --> 01:06:21,687
on a playground
or in a school
1289
01:06:22,458 --> 01:06:24,552
Full of people coming
from everywhere.
1290
01:06:25,194 --> 01:06:26,321
There were Mexicans.
1291
01:06:27,096 --> 01:06:29,156
There were many Italians.
1292
01:06:29,598 --> 01:06:32,067
It was a melting pot.
1293
01:06:32,167 --> 01:06:33,294
It really was.
1294
01:06:34,637 --> 01:06:37,038
It was very integrated,
1295
01:06:37,373 --> 01:06:38,397
when I opened a business...
1296
01:06:38,507 --> 01:06:39,702
5-10-25 CENT STORE
1297
01:06:40,042 --> 01:06:42,409
...my uncle or my mother were there
the first day,
1298
01:06:43,112 --> 01:06:48,073
sitting to make sure
that there was no segregation
1299
01:06:48,450 --> 01:06:51,113
unspoken, but real.
1300
01:06:51,287 --> 01:06:55,054
And no one ever told them
for them to leave there.
1301
01:06:55,224 --> 01:06:56,214
I never heard that.
1302
01:06:56,392 --> 01:06:59,328
When I went to Howard,
I was stunned.
1303
01:06:59,428 --> 01:07:01,294
The black students...
1304
01:07:02,264 --> 01:07:03,755
...they segregated themselves.
1305
01:07:05,067 --> 01:07:07,730
I joined a sorority
because they asked me
1306
01:07:08,103 --> 01:07:09,537
and they looked beautiful,
but I didn't know...
1307
01:07:09,638 --> 01:07:10,606
ALPHA KAPPA ALFA BROTHERHOOD
1308
01:07:10,706 --> 01:07:13,403
...which was a brotherhood
that the light-skinned girls went.
1309
01:07:13,509 --> 01:07:15,171
And there was another brotherhood
1310
01:07:15,344 --> 01:07:16,471
to which all black women went.
1311
01:07:16,679 --> 01:07:17,612
Color tones.
1312
01:07:20,382 --> 01:07:23,841
It was a horrible social scheme.
1313
01:07:26,622 --> 01:07:29,319
I was surprised. I didn't know
what were they talking about
1314
01:07:29,658 --> 01:07:32,787
because if you got on a bus,
You could see white people, colored people...
1315
01:07:33,095 --> 01:07:33,755
COLORED
1316
01:07:33,862 --> 01:07:36,627
And I stole those posters
and sent them home to my mother.
1317
01:07:38,567 --> 01:07:40,729
There was a department store
1318
01:07:41,437 --> 01:07:42,803
where you could go to the bathroom.
1319
01:07:43,806 --> 01:07:46,332
And we all knew which one it was.
But in no more
1320
01:07:46,442 --> 01:07:48,741
they let you go to the bathroom
if you were black...
1321
01:07:49,345 --> 01:07:50,244
...or "colored."
1322
01:07:52,815 --> 01:07:57,185
I remember that they compared me
with Ishmael Reed
1323
01:07:57,653 --> 01:07:59,281
and Gayl Jones...
1324
01:07:59,888 --> 01:08:02,722
...three writers
which are very different...
1325
01:08:03,759 --> 01:08:06,888
...and the critics ended up deciding
1326
01:08:07,229 --> 01:08:10,597
which was more accurate
1327
01:08:11,400 --> 01:08:12,595
regarding life
of the blacks.
1328
01:08:13,202 --> 01:08:15,501
and I was not
the one she had chosen.
1329
01:08:15,671 --> 01:08:17,799
I think he chose Gayl.
1330
01:08:18,173 --> 01:08:19,266
A NOVEL
BY TONI MORRISON
1331
01:08:19,375 --> 01:08:21,674
This is the real black scene.
1332
01:08:22,444 --> 01:08:26,347
This is the middle class
or the real black lower class.
1333
01:08:26,482 --> 01:08:27,643
A NOVEL
CORRECTOR
1334
01:08:27,750 --> 01:08:29,776
That is not a literary observation
1335
01:08:30,619 --> 01:08:33,384
not at all. It is not
a literary point of view.
1336
01:08:34,323 --> 01:08:36,349
And I think it has changed over time.
1337
01:08:36,859 --> 01:08:38,919
At first, it was terrifying.
1338
01:08:39,228 --> 01:08:41,823
I gotta tell you, but it's getting better.
1339
01:08:44,867 --> 01:08:49,271
There were people who wanted
Do your job for a ghetto.
1340
01:08:50,839 --> 01:08:53,274
The debate was always
that black art
1341
01:08:53,442 --> 01:08:54,774
it is a particular art.
1342
01:08:55,277 --> 01:08:58,907
The particularity of black art
has nothing to do with it
1343
01:08:59,248 --> 01:09:01,717
with worries
elders of humanity.
1344
01:09:02,518 --> 01:09:04,453
Humanity has
have to be white.
1345
01:09:05,287 --> 01:09:09,816
And then here there was
a work on particularity,
1346
01:09:10,225 --> 01:09:12,820
the specificity
of the black experience,
1347
01:09:13,295 --> 01:09:16,197
but at the same time,
there was no question
1348
01:09:16,498 --> 01:09:19,400
about universal meaning.
1349
01:09:20,302 --> 01:09:23,295
His work completely destroyed
1350
01:09:23,539 --> 01:09:26,475
the binary notion
of black writers
1351
01:09:26,675 --> 01:09:30,203
who were black writers who
they wrote for black communities
1352
01:09:30,379 --> 01:09:31,847
on black issues
1353
01:09:32,347 --> 01:09:35,215
or black writers
that were after the racial.
1354
01:09:38,887 --> 01:09:41,413
You must place it in time.
1355
01:09:42,791 --> 01:09:45,226
People knew that
Toni Morrison was writing.
1356
01:09:45,394 --> 01:09:47,761
I didn't know what to do
with what he wrote about.
1357
01:09:47,963 --> 01:09:50,262
Is it important? Yes,
1358
01:09:50,365 --> 01:09:52,698
is writing about black people,
maybe it's not important.
1359
01:09:52,835 --> 01:09:54,804
Then people started
to consume Toni Morrison.
1360
01:09:55,237 --> 01:09:57,797
And people started talking
of her abroad.
1361
01:09:58,240 --> 01:10:01,267
And then we start teaching it
also at the university.
1362
01:10:01,510 --> 01:10:03,706
And as a consequence,
They had to pay attention.
1363
01:10:06,248 --> 01:10:08,843
I was traveling by train
From Princeton to New York
1364
01:10:09,485 --> 01:10:10,783
and I had Sula with me.
1365
01:10:11,420 --> 01:10:14,982
I went to the carriage where
There is the cafeteria and there was a line.
1366
01:10:15,824 --> 01:10:19,625
By chance, I was behind
of an older African American woman.
1367
01:10:20,796 --> 01:10:23,391
I don't know what made me do this,
but I decided
1368
01:10:23,766 --> 01:10:26,793
that would begin to show him Sula,
1369
01:10:27,369 --> 01:10:29,429
just to see if we could
start a conversation.
1370
01:10:29,805 --> 01:10:31,967
That is, I did not lift it,
but somehow
1371
01:10:32,274 --> 01:10:33,367
I made it visible.
1372
01:10:33,542 --> 01:10:35,340
He looked at me...
I will never forget this.
1373
01:10:35,444 --> 01:10:36,503
He looked at me,
1374
01:10:36,945 --> 01:10:38,641
He looked at his wallet again,
1375
01:10:38,814 --> 01:10:40,373
he looked at me again,
opened his wallet
1376
01:10:40,482 --> 01:10:41,609
and he brought out Song of Solomon.
1377
01:10:41,784 --> 01:10:44,845
SONG OF SOLOMON
A NOVEL BY TONI MORRISON 1977
1378
01:10:45,020 --> 01:10:46,682
He surpassed me with Song of Solomon.
1379
01:10:46,855 --> 01:10:48,448
And I told him:
"Do you read Toni too?"
1380
01:10:48,590 --> 01:10:50,388
He said, “Yes. You know,
1381
01:10:50,559 --> 01:10:52,858
This is very difficult to read,
1382
01:10:53,328 --> 01:10:56,389
but for some reason,
"I can't leave it."
1383
01:10:56,865 --> 01:10:58,060
I had not written
nothing I had
1384
01:10:58,801 --> 01:11:02,897
a man as the main character
or two main characters,
1385
01:11:03,071 --> 01:11:04,835
but my father died...
1386
01:11:06,575 --> 01:11:10,410
...and I had a reaction
very strong negative
1387
01:11:10,579 --> 01:11:12,047
with the world
after his death.
1388
01:11:13,849 --> 01:11:16,944
And I couldn't even go home
for three years
1389
01:11:18,320 --> 01:11:19,754
because he wasn't there.
1390
01:11:26,995 --> 01:11:30,090
I remember sitting
saying he didn't know...
1391
01:11:31,400 --> 01:11:32,663
...what did my father know...
1392
01:11:33,635 --> 01:11:34,762
...about these men.
1393
01:11:36,371 --> 01:11:38,704
But I felt comfortable
writing about them,
1394
01:11:38,807 --> 01:11:40,469
knowing about them,
1395
01:11:40,676 --> 01:11:43,373
because my father told me so.
1396
01:11:44,546 --> 01:11:45,809
He told me so.
1397
01:11:47,115 --> 01:11:49,016
I was not receiving any signal.
1398
01:11:49,518 --> 01:11:53,080
There was no ghost
that used to accompany me.
1399
01:11:54,022 --> 01:11:55,923
But I knew what he told me...
1400
01:11:57,059 --> 01:11:58,083
...if it started.
1401
01:11:59,561 --> 01:12:01,120
Now I have an inner voice.
1402
01:12:03,632 --> 01:12:05,396
His canvas was getting bigger.
1403
01:12:06,068 --> 01:12:09,038
In Blue Eyes,
had beautifully restrained
1404
01:12:09,538 --> 01:12:12,565
the world to the universe
of young girls.
1405
01:12:13,775 --> 01:12:15,710
In Sula, he had restricted the world
1406
01:12:15,878 --> 01:12:19,007
to a very complete landscape of women.
1407
01:12:19,815 --> 01:12:22,842
And in Song of Solomon,
had included both sexes
1408
01:12:23,085 --> 01:12:25,816
and the world was getting bigger
1409
01:12:25,988 --> 01:12:28,116
for the metaphors that flew.
1410
01:12:38,967 --> 01:12:42,062
But I had always heard
that there were Africans
1411
01:12:42,471 --> 01:12:44,463
who had been enslaved,
1412
01:12:44,740 --> 01:12:47,175
but some could fly.
1413
01:12:48,076 --> 01:12:51,843
And they took flight
and they went home.
1414
01:12:54,449 --> 01:12:56,441
The story
of the flying Africans
1415
01:12:56,618 --> 01:12:59,019
it is something that spread
In African traditions,
1416
01:12:59,421 --> 01:13:01,447
but it is all over the world.
And the idea here is
1417
01:13:01,657 --> 01:13:04,957
that human beings
They must find spiritual allies.
1418
01:13:05,427 --> 01:13:07,692
People have developed
these dreams and these stories
1419
01:13:08,096 --> 01:13:09,792
in which you can transcend
the suffering
1420
01:13:09,965 --> 01:13:11,797
of your community flying.
1421
01:13:12,935 --> 01:13:14,130
As we look at our ancestors,
1422
01:13:15,003 --> 01:13:18,804
and value their songs and stories,
this is one of the ways
1423
01:13:19,675 --> 01:13:21,473
to deal with
with the terror of history.
1424
01:13:22,044 --> 01:13:23,774
And what happens in the novel,
1425
01:13:24,479 --> 01:13:27,745
Milkman discovers
that his ancestor flew...
1426
01:13:28,850 --> 01:13:30,682
...he left here and flew.
1427
01:13:33,522 --> 01:13:34,683
«The twilight grew denser
1428
01:13:35,057 --> 01:13:37,151
and everything around him
It was getting dark.
1429
01:13:37,960 --> 01:13:39,952
I knew there wouldn't be another mistake.
1430
01:13:40,462 --> 01:13:41,987
But when he stood up,
Guitar tried
1431
01:13:42,164 --> 01:13:43,188
blow his head off.
1432
01:13:43,999 --> 01:13:44,989
He stood up.
1433
01:13:45,934 --> 01:13:48,233
'Guitar!' he shouted.
1434
01:13:48,971 --> 01:13:52,567
'Tar, tar, tar', said the hills.
1435
01:13:52,941 --> 01:13:55,809
'Here, brother.
Do you see me?'.
1436
01:13:56,244 --> 01:13:57,872
Milkman covered his mouth
with one hand
1437
01:13:58,046 --> 01:13:59,514
and he waved the other one over his head.
1438
01:13:59,781 --> 01:14:04,242
'Here I am!'
'I am, I am, I am',
1439
01:14:04,853 --> 01:14:06,947
said the rocks. 'Do you love me?
1440
01:14:07,222 --> 01:14:09,020
Hey? Do you want my life?
1441
01:14:09,825 --> 01:14:12,954
Life, life, life «».
1442
01:14:14,496 --> 01:14:16,965
Yes, the ending was difficult
1443
01:14:17,132 --> 01:14:20,694
for some readers
because it was not explicit.
1444
01:14:20,969 --> 01:14:24,133
These are men
with a very close relationship
1445
01:14:24,906 --> 01:14:26,807
and they were on opposite sides
1446
01:14:27,242 --> 01:14:30,508
in politics and other things,
and they became enemies.
1447
01:14:32,147 --> 01:14:34,878
One chases the other, tracks him.
1448
01:14:35,951 --> 01:14:38,284
One of them who has a gun...
1449
01:14:39,187 --> 01:14:40,849
...put down the weapon.
1450
01:14:41,957 --> 01:14:44,722
"He put the rifle
on the ground and got up.
1451
01:14:45,227 --> 01:14:47,822
Milkman stopped waving his hand
and narrowed his eyes.
1452
01:14:48,096 --> 01:14:49,997
could see the head
Guitar and shoulders
1453
01:14:50,165 --> 01:14:52,566
in the dark. 'Do you want my life?'
1454
01:14:53,135 --> 01:14:57,072
Milkman wasn't yelling now.
'Do you need it? Here'.
1455
01:14:57,706 --> 01:15:00,676
Without wiping away the tears,
nor breathe deeply
1456
01:15:00,976 --> 01:15:03,912
nor bend your knees,
jumped
1457
01:15:04,646 --> 01:15:08,276
as fast as the North Star.
1458
01:15:09,017 --> 01:15:12,317
He headed towards Guitar
and it didn't matter
1459
01:15:12,687 --> 01:15:14,918
which of them would end
1460
01:15:15,157 --> 01:15:17,558
in the murderous arms of his brother.
1461
01:15:18,060 --> 01:15:21,121
Since now I knew
what Shalimar knew...
1462
01:15:22,164 --> 01:15:23,962
If you surrender to the air...
1463
01:15:25,133 --> 01:15:26,294
...you could ride it.
1464
01:15:29,671 --> 01:15:32,835
The friend jumps towards him...
1465
01:15:33,809 --> 01:15:35,300
...and that is the flight...
1466
01:15:36,945 --> 01:15:41,007
...in his brother's arms.
1467
01:15:42,350 --> 01:15:46,253
Instead of shedding blood,
1468
01:15:46,955 --> 01:15:48,924
blood joins.
1469
01:15:49,891 --> 01:15:51,189
Through the art of flying.
1470
01:15:52,360 --> 01:15:55,626
And it seemed to me that
The writing was extraordinary.
1471
01:15:55,931 --> 01:15:58,025
different, radical and beautiful.
1472
01:15:58,200 --> 01:16:00,328
That's what I thought.
I didn't think
1473
01:16:00,702 --> 01:16:02,102
that there would be many people
1474
01:16:02,204 --> 01:16:07,199
who shared this point of view.
So I was never convinced
1475
01:16:07,342 --> 01:16:08,867
that it would have many readers.
1476
01:16:09,044 --> 01:16:10,307
When that changed
1477
01:16:10,679 --> 01:16:12,113
and changed with Song of Solomon,
1478
01:16:12,314 --> 01:16:15,250
that was a commercial success,
and I was fascinated.
1479
01:16:15,650 --> 01:16:17,846
That's when I called
writer. I used the tag.
1480
01:16:17,953 --> 01:16:19,922
«THE MOST IMPORTANT FICTION
FROM THE INVISIBLE MAN.
1481
01:16:20,021 --> 01:16:21,319
And what had preceded was
1482
01:16:21,690 --> 01:16:23,659
that I was an unhappy woman
1483
01:16:23,825 --> 01:16:25,851
that I couldn't say,
like the big boys:
1484
01:16:26,027 --> 01:16:27,120
"I am a writer."
1485
01:16:27,362 --> 01:16:29,888
I always said that I am
a teacher who writes
1486
01:16:30,298 --> 01:16:31,994
or an editor who writes.
1487
01:16:32,367 --> 01:16:34,233
But I never said the real thing
1488
01:16:34,703 --> 01:16:36,137
see you later
to write the third book.
1489
01:16:36,638 --> 01:16:39,005
It's the kind of thing that
we women usually do.
1490
01:16:39,241 --> 01:16:41,710
We need permission
to tell ourselves
1491
01:16:41,843 --> 01:16:43,072
that this is
the work we do.
1492
01:16:46,848 --> 01:16:49,283
One day we were talking,
and I said: «You know, Toni?
1493
01:16:49,885 --> 01:16:51,820
It's time for you to quit
to your work.
1494
01:16:52,954 --> 01:16:56,015
you must admit
1495
01:16:56,258 --> 01:17:00,093
and tell our world:
'I am a writer.
1496
01:17:00,729 --> 01:17:04,063
I don't have time or psychic energy
1497
01:17:04,399 --> 01:17:05,867
to continue doing
both "".
1498
01:17:15,310 --> 01:17:17,302
I started writing full time
1499
01:17:17,712 --> 01:17:20,307
as a writer in this place.
1500
01:17:22,017 --> 01:17:23,246
I went out to the dock...
1501
01:17:24,319 --> 01:17:25,787
...which is outside.
1502
01:17:27,355 --> 01:17:31,190
I was sitting there
with a very strange sensation.
1503
01:17:33,261 --> 01:17:35,992
I didn't know what it was.
I was a little dizzy.
1504
01:17:37,132 --> 01:17:39,101
And then I realized
1505
01:17:39,768 --> 01:17:40,963
that I was very happy...
1506
01:17:42,737 --> 01:17:43,705
...and free.
1507
01:17:44,472 --> 01:17:47,135
I've never felt like this,
1508
01:17:48,143 --> 01:17:52,774
with that level of freedom
and intense happiness.
1509
01:18:00,455 --> 01:18:02,219
BLACK MAGIC
1510
01:18:02,457 --> 01:18:03,755
NOVELIST TONI MORRISON
1511
01:18:05,193 --> 01:18:06,991
The important thing about my book
1512
01:18:07,162 --> 01:18:09,859
as for the critics
1513
01:18:10,332 --> 01:18:11,493
it was because he was black.
1514
01:18:12,734 --> 01:18:14,066
So they were talking about that.
1515
01:18:14,169 --> 01:18:15,193
BLACK MAGIC BY TONI MORRISON
1516
01:18:15,337 --> 01:18:17,169
THE SOUND AND THE FURY:
TONI MORRISON
1517
01:18:17,305 --> 01:18:19,206
I know you're fed up
of being tagged,
1518
01:18:19,307 --> 01:18:21,367
I would think: a black writer?
1519
01:18:21,743 --> 01:18:23,974
- I like it. I prefer it.
- Doesn't it bother you?
1520
01:18:24,145 --> 01:18:25,078
At all.
1521
01:18:25,213 --> 01:18:26,977
I thought you were sick of it.
1522
01:18:27,382 --> 01:18:29,908
I'm tired of people
I asked myself.
1523
01:18:30,051 --> 01:18:32,486
Yes of course.
1524
01:18:33,355 --> 01:18:35,324
- That's what I meant, of course.
- Know?
1525
01:18:36,057 --> 01:18:37,423
It's like being told
French writer.
1526
01:18:37,525 --> 01:18:38,891
How can you get tired?
1527
01:18:39,027 --> 01:18:40,290
Sure. Yes. A black writer,
1528
01:18:40,395 --> 01:18:43,365
- it's a double label.
- I am all those things.
1529
01:18:43,465 --> 01:18:46,094
"And we know... what to expect from her."
1530
01:18:46,301 --> 01:18:48,327
But sometimes it's pejorative
and people say:
1531
01:18:48,503 --> 01:18:50,335
«It's a good book
to be a black writer,
1532
01:18:50,772 --> 01:18:52,172
- or for...».
- Yes...
1533
01:18:52,374 --> 01:18:54,002
Then, of course, you hear...
1534
01:18:54,109 --> 01:18:55,338
- "Isn't she beautiful beyond her years?"
- Yes.
1535
01:18:58,246 --> 01:19:01,410
You don't want to be a character
from a novel by Toni Morrison
1536
01:19:01,783 --> 01:19:03,945
because he is writing
something that destroys everything.
1537
01:19:05,086 --> 01:19:07,920
People take on all the suffering
1538
01:19:08,223 --> 01:19:10,954
that has created us
and has made us so beautiful.
1539
01:19:11,326 --> 01:19:13,227
But to be this beautiful,
1540
01:19:13,795 --> 01:19:16,560
you have to go through a lot,
1541
01:19:16,965 --> 01:19:18,934
by people who rape you, stab you,
1542
01:19:19,034 --> 01:19:23,335
attacks you with his dogs
and your mother destroys you.
1543
01:19:24,172 --> 01:19:25,834
Who would want to lead that life?
1544
01:19:26,941 --> 01:19:30,275
The life I want to lead
It is a beautiful and boring novel,
1545
01:19:30,445 --> 01:19:32,038
where you live on the river bank,
1546
01:19:32,213 --> 01:19:35,149
you fish a little
and then a beautiful mermaid
1547
01:19:35,317 --> 01:19:37,081
He comes out and talks to me.
1548
01:19:37,252 --> 01:19:39,050
That's my novel.
If I have to live it.
1549
01:19:39,387 --> 01:19:40,946
I will read the one by Toni Morrison,
1550
01:19:41,056 --> 01:19:42,217
but I won't live it.
1551
01:19:49,564 --> 01:19:51,055
I saw a woman...
1552
01:19:52,133 --> 01:19:53,101
...fully dressed...
1553
01:19:54,469 --> 01:19:55,960
...leaving the river...
1554
01:19:56,838 --> 01:19:57,999
...in front of my house...
1555
01:19:59,374 --> 01:20:00,842
...and sat down.
1556
01:20:02,043 --> 01:20:03,067
He was wearing a hat.
1557
01:20:04,346 --> 01:20:06,941
And I was at my desk
writing and looking at it.
1558
01:20:08,383 --> 01:20:10,249
She didn't look at me.
1559
01:20:11,586 --> 01:20:12,986
Then he disappeared.
1560
01:20:13,388 --> 01:20:17,052
And then I knew
That was the solution...
1561
01:20:17,625 --> 01:20:19,287
...for a book
what I was writing...
1562
01:20:20,061 --> 01:20:22,223
...about a dead girl
Called Beloved.
1563
01:20:42,517 --> 01:20:44,213
The history of slavery
1564
01:20:44,452 --> 01:20:47,217
it's usually the story
of black men
1565
01:20:47,622 --> 01:20:49,022
enslaved...
1566
01:20:50,358 --> 01:20:51,451
...that escape...
1567
01:20:52,560 --> 01:20:53,892
...and they become free...
1568
01:20:55,163 --> 01:20:57,291
...or they die and do not become free.
1569
01:20:59,467 --> 01:21:03,370
That's the classic story
of black slaves.
1570
01:21:03,605 --> 01:21:08,600
And something that was not part
of slave history
1571
01:21:09,010 --> 01:21:10,239
It was a woman.
1572
01:21:21,523 --> 01:21:23,458
I don't want to say
that there were no narratives
1573
01:21:23,925 --> 01:21:25,450
let the slave women tell...
1574
01:21:26,361 --> 01:21:28,057
...or that there was not
information about it.
1575
01:21:28,163 --> 01:21:30,655
That is, it was not
narrative in literature.
1576
01:21:31,032 --> 01:21:33,627
My effort in saying
that Beloved did it...
1577
01:21:34,936 --> 01:21:37,701
...when talking about a woman
who has to make decisions...
1578
01:21:38,706 --> 01:21:40,971
...about slavery, motherhood,
1579
01:21:41,309 --> 01:21:44,438
love, parenting...
1580
01:21:45,480 --> 01:21:49,110
...which had nothing to do with
with being a victim.
1581
01:21:50,552 --> 01:21:52,453
A real woman,
a historical figure
1582
01:21:52,620 --> 01:21:53,679
in fact...
1583
01:21:54,622 --> 01:21:58,320
...that he was nothing more than a victim.
1584
01:21:59,027 --> 01:22:01,690
This is a woman who said:
«These children are mine.
1585
01:22:04,132 --> 01:22:05,566
"I can do whatever I want with them."
1586
01:22:12,140 --> 01:22:13,164
A NOVEL
TONI MORRISON
1587
01:22:13,308 --> 01:22:16,472
When Toni Morrison
published Beloved,
1588
01:22:17,212 --> 01:22:21,172
it was a point
extraordinary turning
1589
01:22:21,649 --> 01:22:24,312
in the history of this country
1590
01:22:24,486 --> 01:22:26,478
and I would say in the history of the world.
1591
01:22:27,555 --> 01:22:32,016
Because she urged us to imagine
1592
01:22:32,293 --> 01:22:36,321
people who were slaves
as human beings,
1593
01:22:36,998 --> 01:22:39,433
individuals with subjectivity...
1594
01:22:40,668 --> 01:22:44,730
...that they also loved
and they had imagination
1595
01:22:45,673 --> 01:22:47,574
even while they were victims
1596
01:22:47,742 --> 01:22:51,201
of the ways
of repression most horrendous.
1597
01:22:53,748 --> 01:22:57,310
We can never think
in slavery in the same way.
1598
01:22:59,521 --> 01:23:02,582
Toni uses history
and has a deep understanding
1599
01:23:02,790 --> 01:23:05,453
of American history.
That's a tool for her.
1600
01:23:06,661 --> 01:23:09,187
First and foremost,
She is a narrative artist,
1601
01:23:09,397 --> 01:23:11,332
and use biographies,
newspaper clippings...
1602
01:23:11,466 --> 01:23:12,399
RUSSELL BANKS
AUTHOR
1603
01:23:12,534 --> 01:23:14,264
...whatever comes your way.
1604
01:23:15,169 --> 01:23:17,729
It is the material that you then use
1605
01:23:18,106 --> 01:23:21,474
to transform it into literary art.
1606
01:23:27,248 --> 01:23:30,309
Beloved was a great event.
1607
01:23:31,619 --> 01:23:33,383
Somehow, it crystallized...
1608
01:23:34,622 --> 01:23:38,184
...the past for African Americans,
1609
01:23:39,093 --> 01:23:40,254
the worst of the past...
1610
01:23:41,195 --> 01:23:43,096
...and also the strength of the past.
1611
01:23:43,364 --> 01:23:45,230
His heroism, his inner heroism,
1612
01:23:45,400 --> 01:23:48,734
and your ability to survive
and prevail
1613
01:23:49,304 --> 01:23:51,432
It is wonderful and moving.
1614
01:23:54,809 --> 01:23:58,405
Yes, it concentrates on one part
horrible part of US history
1615
01:23:59,447 --> 01:24:01,507
But it doesn't seem to me that it is
a historical work.
1616
01:24:02,317 --> 01:24:04,286
I see it as a work
through which,
1617
01:24:04,619 --> 01:24:07,179
if we choose,
We can look at our history.
1618
01:24:09,324 --> 01:24:12,488
She is realistic. Look in the face...
1619
01:24:13,261 --> 01:24:14,786
...of historical suffering
1620
01:24:15,496 --> 01:24:19,160
of African Americans
and look inside your body and soul,
1621
01:24:19,500 --> 01:24:21,526
and find a language
to describe that.
1622
01:24:24,672 --> 01:24:26,402
He took this experience from a town
1623
01:24:26,608 --> 01:24:28,338
that had been demoted.
1624
01:24:29,410 --> 01:24:31,675
And he showed that this was the experience
1625
01:24:31,846 --> 01:24:34,145
of a world historic town...
1626
01:24:36,117 --> 01:24:38,313
...like the Hebrews
of the Old Testament,
1627
01:24:38,486 --> 01:24:39,545
like the Greeks
1628
01:24:39,754 --> 01:24:42,223
that existed
the same type of drama,
1629
01:24:42,523 --> 01:24:46,824
love, passion and hate there.
1630
01:24:49,764 --> 01:24:51,357
One of the things I learned from Toni,
1631
01:24:51,532 --> 01:24:53,592
one of the things
that really changed me
1632
01:24:53,868 --> 01:24:59,671
It made me sensitive when I saw
the story beneath the story.
1633
01:25:03,578 --> 01:25:05,843
This is how the USA has existed
1634
01:25:06,614 --> 01:25:07,912
from the beginning.
1635
01:25:08,549 --> 01:25:10,643
There is the official story.
There is a press release...
1636
01:25:10,752 --> 01:25:12,550
COMPOSER
MARGARET GARNER OPERA
1637
01:25:12,654 --> 01:25:14,452
...and then there is the truth.
1638
01:25:23,498 --> 01:25:27,299
Margaret Garner
She was an African American woman.
1639
01:25:27,468 --> 01:25:28,834
born into slavery
1640
01:25:29,337 --> 01:25:32,239
in a plantation
in northern Kentucky.
1641
01:25:34,442 --> 01:25:36,570
In the 1850s,
1642
01:25:36,778 --> 01:25:39,646
crossed the frozen Ohio River
1643
01:25:39,881 --> 01:25:42,316
with hope
to find a refuge
1644
01:25:42,517 --> 01:25:44,611
through the system
of Clandestine Train.
1645
01:25:46,454 --> 01:25:49,947
The owner of the plantation found it
after a couple of weeks
1646
01:25:50,491 --> 01:25:54,553
and instead of returning
obediently,
1647
01:25:54,896 --> 01:25:57,889
he cut the throat of his eldest son
1648
01:25:58,700 --> 01:26:00,362
and on the return trip,
1649
01:26:00,535 --> 01:26:03,300
tried to drown herself
and his youngest son.
1650
01:26:03,738 --> 01:26:06,572
The boy drowned and she survived.
1651
01:26:08,710 --> 01:26:09,734
The discussions...
1652
01:26:10,878 --> 01:26:13,712
...in his audience
they had to do with knowing
1653
01:26:14,315 --> 01:26:16,750
whether she should be charged with murder
1654
01:26:16,951 --> 01:26:19,511
or destruction of property.
1655
01:26:20,922 --> 01:26:23,391
Because, if they blamed her for homicide,
1656
01:26:23,791 --> 01:26:25,987
the nation would have to recognize
1657
01:26:26,360 --> 01:26:28,659
that she and her children were human.
1658
01:26:30,732 --> 01:26:33,896
The story behind Beloved is
a small newspaper article
1659
01:26:34,001 --> 01:26:35,993
which appeared in the early years
of abolitionists...
1660
01:26:36,304 --> 01:26:37,738
SLAVE ARREST
SLAVE KILLS SON...
1661
01:26:37,839 --> 01:26:38,738
...by Margaret Garner.
1662
01:26:39,741 --> 01:26:42,006
He discovered that in the 70s
1663
01:26:42,376 --> 01:26:44,277
and he kept it in his head.
1664
01:26:44,946 --> 01:26:47,415
He said: "I didn't investigate
beyond that article
1665
01:26:47,582 --> 01:26:50,677
because I didn't want to write a book
about Margaret Garner.
1666
01:26:50,785 --> 01:26:52,754
I wanted to use that incident
1667
01:26:52,954 --> 01:26:56,447
as a means of entry
in a woman's world
1668
01:26:56,891 --> 01:26:59,486
that did something
like Margaret Garner did.
1669
01:27:01,829 --> 01:27:04,526
Toni takes that and writes it to us
1670
01:27:04,999 --> 01:27:06,729
So we're all in that barn,
1671
01:27:07,535 --> 01:27:09,629
in the horrible decision
that she takes.
1672
01:27:09,871 --> 01:27:12,602
And it's about this decision
that the mother takes.
1673
01:27:16,744 --> 01:27:18,975
"The four headed to the stable.
1674
01:27:19,480 --> 01:27:24,578
Inside, two boys
They bled in the sawdust and grime
1675
01:27:24,919 --> 01:27:26,581
at the feet of a black woman
1676
01:27:26,954 --> 01:27:30,982
which he held with one hand and against his
chest to a child soaked in blood,
1677
01:27:31,592 --> 01:27:33,652
and with the other, he held
to a child by the heels.
1678
01:27:34,829 --> 01:27:38,425
It immediately became clear,
especially for the teacher,
1679
01:27:38,933 --> 01:27:40,595
that there was nothing to claim there.
1680
01:27:40,968 --> 01:27:42,937
The three, now four,
1681
01:27:43,371 --> 01:27:45,670
because I had one on the way
when he cut it,
1682
01:27:46,040 --> 01:27:49,374
blacks who had wanted
that they were alive and well
1683
01:27:49,677 --> 01:27:51,339
to return them to Kentucky,
1684
01:27:51,746 --> 01:27:55,478
return them and raise them properly
to do the job that Sweet Home
1685
01:27:55,650 --> 01:27:57,676
I desperately needed
They weren't.
1686
01:27:58,619 --> 01:28:01,384
Two lay with their eyes open
in the sawdust,
1687
01:28:01,889 --> 01:28:05,621
a third was bleeding
for the principal's dress,
1688
01:28:06,494 --> 01:28:08,895
the woman whose master
he flaunted,
1689
01:28:09,530 --> 01:28:12,932
what he said he did
good ink and good soup,
1690
01:28:13,534 --> 01:28:15,469
and ironed their collars
as he liked,
1691
01:28:15,837 --> 01:28:19,433
and who also had left
at least ten fertile years.
1692
01:28:20,041 --> 01:28:21,634
But now, she had gone mad.
1693
01:28:24,378 --> 01:28:26,938
The question in the article
from the newspaper,
1694
01:28:27,048 --> 01:28:28,949
a reproduction of which
It was in The Black Book
1695
01:28:29,050 --> 01:28:30,416
that I had published.
1696
01:28:31,118 --> 01:28:33,087
It was the big question
about what to do with it.
1697
01:28:33,387 --> 01:28:34,855
VISIT TO THE SLAVE
WHO KILLED HIS SON
1698
01:28:34,956 --> 01:28:37,585
The only person who really
should answer the question
1699
01:28:38,125 --> 01:28:39,616
and would really know...
1700
01:28:41,028 --> 01:28:42,621
...it would be the dead daughter.
1701
01:28:44,632 --> 01:28:46,396
And she had already appeared...
1702
01:28:47,735 --> 01:28:48,828
...fully dressed...
1703
01:28:50,438 --> 01:28:51,497
...with a beautiful hat...
1704
01:28:52,707 --> 01:28:53,697
...coming out of the water.
1705
01:28:56,077 --> 01:29:00,708
So he behaved
How would a child behave?
1706
01:29:02,083 --> 01:29:05,850
if your mother
I would have cut his throat.
1707
01:29:08,155 --> 01:29:10,056
You loved your mother.
1708
01:29:12,026 --> 01:29:13,085
you loved her,
1709
01:29:13,461 --> 01:29:15,760
but at the same time
You wanted to punish her.
1710
01:29:20,067 --> 01:29:22,036
This is the gift of a novel.
1711
01:29:22,870 --> 01:29:23,963
No other form of art
1712
01:29:24,138 --> 01:29:27,700
allows us to enter
and therefore dignify
1713
01:29:27,909 --> 01:29:31,505
the inner life of another
human being with so much detail,
1714
01:29:31,746 --> 01:29:33,806
and allows us to experiment
the inner life
1715
01:29:33,981 --> 01:29:36,849
of another human being,
the secret life inside,
1716
01:29:37,852 --> 01:29:40,617
what does that person feel.
1717
01:29:41,022 --> 01:29:41,955
Not your opinions...
1718
01:29:42,790 --> 01:29:45,817
...nor their social conditions,
But how did you feel?
1719
01:29:46,460 --> 01:29:47,621
be that person?
1720
01:29:48,829 --> 01:29:50,764
Beloved, for example,
allows us to feel
1721
01:29:51,098 --> 01:29:53,727
what it is like to be Sethe, the mother.
1722
01:29:55,069 --> 01:29:57,061
It allows us to give that life,
1723
01:29:57,471 --> 01:29:59,838
and lives like hers, respect,
1724
01:30:00,207 --> 01:30:01,675
dignity.
1725
01:30:03,544 --> 01:30:04,978
I just came back
to read it for the first time
1726
01:30:05,079 --> 01:30:06,138
since we published it.
1727
01:30:06,580 --> 01:30:09,072
and I thought I would like it
reread Beloved.
1728
01:30:09,684 --> 01:30:12,153
I almost never read again
the books I edited
1729
01:30:12,520 --> 01:30:14,682
because I'm always afraid
that I don't like them so much.
1730
01:30:14,889 --> 01:30:16,050
And he left me...
1731
01:30:17,625 --> 01:30:20,493
...perplexed again,
shocked and horrified.
1732
01:30:20,728 --> 01:30:23,129
And as I told Toni:
«It's not just the content,
1733
01:30:23,564 --> 01:30:26,796
so moving, strange and complicated,
1734
01:30:27,068 --> 01:30:29,731
but it is also
armed brilliantly.
1735
01:30:30,237 --> 01:30:33,765
Your strategies
and tactics are wonderful.
1736
01:30:34,175 --> 01:30:36,974
I wish I took the credit,
but I have no merit.
1737
01:30:37,244 --> 01:30:40,476
It is a book constructed
wonderfully good
1738
01:30:40,815 --> 01:30:42,943
and there is also
wonderfully well written.
1739
01:30:44,652 --> 01:30:46,712
Sethe. - Halle
Howard. - Faustine. - Buglar. - NO...
1740
01:30:46,854 --> 01:30:48,823
Her mind is structural.
1741
01:30:51,759 --> 01:30:54,251
Cold Room. - Deposit
Bathtubs -K Room -Kitchen
1742
01:30:54,562 --> 01:30:56,155
1 Stamp with funeral
2 Stamp on street and tape
1743
01:30:56,263 --> 01:30:58,732
You never knew how I was going to do it.
1744
01:30:58,866 --> 01:31:00,129
3 Stamp with Her 4 Stamp 1
1745
01:31:00,935 --> 01:31:03,268
How would I get from here to there?
1746
01:31:03,904 --> 01:31:05,600
And suddenly, you were there,
1747
01:31:06,207 --> 01:31:08,039
and it was fine
although it was mysterious.
1748
01:31:13,948 --> 01:31:17,077
One day I decided to dedicate the day.
1749
01:31:17,251 --> 01:31:19,618
I dedicated a Saturday
and I think I read
1750
01:31:19,920 --> 01:31:21,855
from 7:00
until 4:30 in the afternoon.
1751
01:31:22,823 --> 01:31:25,520
For me, Toni Morrison
He's a rock star.
1752
01:31:25,960 --> 01:31:29,658
All authors are,
but I love the idea
1753
01:31:29,897 --> 01:31:31,559
to be able to talk to them
to the authors.
1754
01:31:31,699 --> 01:31:33,634
I tried to get
Toni Morrison's number.
1755
01:31:33,834 --> 01:31:34,733
He had a private number.
1756
01:31:34,902 --> 01:31:36,268
I was desperate
for talking to her.
1757
01:31:36,670 --> 01:31:39,640
So I called the fire department
of your city.
1758
01:31:39,807 --> 01:31:42,106
"I'm Oprah Winfrey."
and it's an emergency.
1759
01:31:42,543 --> 01:31:44,102
I need to communicate
with Mrs. Morrison.
1760
01:31:44,578 --> 01:31:46,843
Can you call her and tell her?
1761
01:31:47,014 --> 01:31:49,745
And they said:
«What? Is it real? This...?".
1762
01:31:50,084 --> 01:31:51,882
Anyway, I got the number.
1763
01:31:53,020 --> 01:31:56,684
He said: "Toni Morrison,
Oprah Winfrey speaks.
1764
01:31:57,792 --> 01:32:00,557
And I said, "How
Did you get my number?
1765
01:32:01,162 --> 01:32:04,963
He said: "I called the police
and to the firefighters.
1766
01:32:05,866 --> 01:32:07,858
My second question, which I didn't ask.
1767
01:32:08,102 --> 01:32:09,764
It was: "How did they have it?"
1768
01:32:10,204 --> 01:32:13,197
Mrs. Morrison,
I just finished reading Beloved.
1769
01:32:13,607 --> 01:32:16,702
I just finished reading Beloved
and I had to talk to you.
1770
01:32:17,011 --> 01:32:21,244
I said, "Do people tell you
that must start and stop,
1771
01:32:21,615 --> 01:32:23,277
start and stop when reading
1772
01:32:23,651 --> 01:32:25,119
because they have
to reread things
1773
01:32:25,286 --> 01:32:27,255
Why do they try to understand everything?
1774
01:32:27,621 --> 01:32:31,285
And he said: "That,
dear, it's called reading.
1775
01:32:32,927 --> 01:32:35,021
And I told him that
I wanted to make a movie
1776
01:32:35,196 --> 01:32:37,791
and he said he didn't think
that was possible,
1777
01:32:38,232 --> 01:32:40,030
but you would like to think about it.
1778
01:32:40,201 --> 01:32:41,328
BELOVED A NOVEL
TONI MORRISON
1779
01:32:42,036 --> 01:32:44,198
I turned around, I spoke
with my children and I told them:
1780
01:32:44,638 --> 01:32:47,301
«It was Oprah Winfrey.
He wants to do Beloved.
1781
01:32:48,275 --> 01:32:52,042
And I said: «I don't know
If it should be a movie.
1782
01:32:52,746 --> 01:32:55,739
And my oldest son said: «Mom,
you will always have the book.
1783
01:32:56,383 --> 01:33:01,344
They will not destroy the book,
"It will just be another version."
1784
01:33:02,990 --> 01:33:04,117
I stopped him.
1785
01:33:05,860 --> 01:33:08,125
I put my babies
where they would be safe.
1786
01:33:08,762 --> 01:33:10,287
It didn't work, did it?
1787
01:33:11,966 --> 01:33:13,696
They're not in Sweet Home.
1788
01:33:15,102 --> 01:33:16,934
The school teacher
He doesn't have them.
1789
01:33:17,138 --> 01:33:20,108
THE BELOVED OPRAH
1790
01:33:20,341 --> 01:33:23,038
The character, Sethe,
It was very important to me.
1791
01:33:23,744 --> 01:33:28,910
My hope was that people
feel the story
1792
01:33:29,049 --> 01:33:33,646
and see the beauty
of our African American history,
1793
01:33:34,255 --> 01:33:35,655
including slavery.
1794
01:33:36,223 --> 01:33:39,250
But understand it despite everything
1795
01:33:39,693 --> 01:33:41,059
what you have experienced...
1796
01:33:42,763 --> 01:33:45,255
...and despite the worst
What could you do in your life...
1797
01:33:46,300 --> 01:33:48,394
...cut his neck
to your own son...
1798
01:33:49,370 --> 01:33:51,930
...so that it does not grow
in slavery...
1799
01:33:53,674 --> 01:33:55,802
...and despite all that,
1800
01:33:56,343 --> 01:33:58,938
that you can still grow
from that pain
1801
01:33:59,146 --> 01:34:00,910
and learn to love again.
1802
01:34:15,796 --> 01:34:18,129
Despite international stature
1803
01:34:18,332 --> 01:34:21,268
by Toni Morrison,
have yet to receive
1804
01:34:21,435 --> 01:34:22,926
national recognition
1805
01:34:23,103 --> 01:34:27,803
who deserve their five
major works of fiction.
1806
01:34:28,709 --> 01:34:31,008
Yet to receive key honors
1807
01:34:31,178 --> 01:34:34,046
from the National Book Award
or the Pulitzer Prize.
1808
01:34:34,815 --> 01:34:36,408
Forty-eight writers
and black critics
1809
01:34:36,784 --> 01:34:38,343
they wrote a letter
supporting your work,
1810
01:34:38,452 --> 01:34:40,045
which was published
in the New York Times.
1811
01:34:40,154 --> 01:34:41,713
BLACK WRITERS
THEY PRAISE TONI MORRISON
1812
01:34:41,855 --> 01:34:45,053
We wanted to make it clear to you
To Toni our thanks
1813
01:34:45,226 --> 01:34:46,216
and we wanted to do it
1814
01:34:46,393 --> 01:34:48,191
especially in relation to Beloved,
1815
01:34:48,362 --> 01:34:50,490
but also
a recognition of the meaning...
1816
01:34:50,831 --> 01:34:51,730
JUNE JORDAN
POET
1817
01:34:51,832 --> 01:34:53,300
...from the work of Toni Morrison.
1818
01:34:53,767 --> 01:34:57,226
Everyone recognized
Morrison's genius.
1819
01:34:57,905 --> 01:35:00,500
It wasn't just because
was bright on paper,
1820
01:35:01,075 --> 01:35:02,839
but because it was
very important for us.
1821
01:35:02,943 --> 01:35:04,809
48 BLACK WRITERS PROTEST
FLATTERING MORRISON
1822
01:35:04,912 --> 01:35:07,939
And that they ignored her, for her
It was the straw that broke the camel's back.
1823
01:35:09,516 --> 01:35:12,509
My grandmother used to tell me
sometimes I got closer
1824
01:35:12,886 --> 01:35:14,218
to make me
come to your senses.
1825
01:35:15,089 --> 01:35:16,489
As writers, what we did
1826
01:35:16,924 --> 01:35:18,222
was to make people see reason
1827
01:35:18,392 --> 01:35:22,352
to the literary circle
American, saying:
1828
01:35:22,863 --> 01:35:24,855
"Come on, come on now."
1829
01:35:25,933 --> 01:35:28,027
Our goal was...
1830
01:35:28,135 --> 01:35:29,398
HOUSTON A. BAKER JR.
LITERARY CRITIC
1831
01:35:29,503 --> 01:35:31,802
...was singing a song
of praise for Toni Morrison,
1832
01:35:31,972 --> 01:35:35,409
that has moved the entire group forward,
African American culture,
1833
01:35:35,809 --> 01:35:39,371
African American expressive culture
in quantum leaps.
1834
01:35:39,546 --> 01:35:43,415
Our goal was to say:
«We love you, Toni,
1835
01:35:43,784 --> 01:35:46,379
and you do an extraordinary job
for us."
1836
01:35:46,787 --> 01:35:47,777
DEFENDERS
BY TONI MORRISON
1837
01:35:47,888 --> 01:35:49,880
It was a scandal!
1838
01:35:50,291 --> 01:35:51,418
We were all incredulous...
1839
01:35:52,359 --> 01:35:54,419
...regarding not
they had given him that honor
1840
01:35:54,828 --> 01:35:57,923
since your community
in this country I understood
1841
01:35:58,098 --> 01:36:00,533
that there was something very racist
1842
01:36:00,901 --> 01:36:03,370
and misogynistic in the way
1843
01:36:03,537 --> 01:36:06,530
what they worked on
these literary awards.
1844
01:36:07,074 --> 01:36:10,067
It was an eruption.
What we saw then was a...
1845
01:36:11,545 --> 01:36:15,073
...kind of collision between
the canon, up to that point,
1846
01:36:15,249 --> 01:36:18,481
and the emerging canon,
which Toni was exemplifying.
1847
01:36:19,186 --> 01:36:20,484
It didn't matter
Which side were you on?
1848
01:36:20,587 --> 01:36:23,352
you could say: "Something
Come on here, Mr. Jones,
1849
01:36:23,524 --> 01:36:25,823
And you don't know what it is, right?
1850
01:36:26,994 --> 01:36:28,428
Jimmy Baldwin had just died.
1851
01:36:29,196 --> 01:36:30,494
And for all his genius,
1852
01:36:30,898 --> 01:36:33,390
had never received
the attention it deserved
1853
01:36:33,567 --> 01:36:35,900
or the awards he deserved.
1854
01:36:36,904 --> 01:36:38,395
And then we started talking
1855
01:36:38,572 --> 01:36:40,268
about what it means
get a prize.
1856
01:36:41,108 --> 01:36:42,838
So I said
with a lot of drama:
1857
01:36:43,010 --> 01:36:44,979
«Jimmy, we teach you...
1858
01:36:46,447 --> 01:36:47,915
...and you would live forever
1859
01:36:48,315 --> 01:36:49,578
because we have taught you
1860
01:36:49,883 --> 01:36:52,182
for years and years
and everyone knows you.
1861
01:36:52,419 --> 01:36:54,445
And he looked at me like he was
completely crazy.
1862
01:36:54,621 --> 01:36:57,420
He said: "Sonia, I don't speak
of your teachings...
1863
01:36:57,958 --> 01:36:59,893
This is fine.
I'm talking about a prize.
1864
01:37:00,461 --> 01:37:02,191
"I deserve a prize."
1865
01:37:02,930 --> 01:37:04,922
Toni deserved an award.
1866
01:37:05,232 --> 01:37:09,397
I had had a conversation
with Gwendolyn Brooks
1867
01:37:10,170 --> 01:37:11,433
at that time.
1868
01:37:12,072 --> 01:37:14,041
June Jordan,
one of the great thinkers
1869
01:37:14,241 --> 01:37:15,539
and a very good friend of Toni,
1870
01:37:16,143 --> 01:37:18,044
it was with Gwendolyn
and told him that we had a letter
1871
01:37:18,212 --> 01:37:19,236
and I had to sign it.
1872
01:37:19,480 --> 01:37:22,075
Gwendolyn said:
"Why should I go?"
1873
01:37:22,216 --> 01:37:24,082
to beg people
give me a prize?
1874
01:37:24,918 --> 01:37:26,045
I don't need your awards.
1875
01:37:26,186 --> 01:37:27,279
'BELOVED' AND THE PROTEST
1876
01:37:27,388 --> 01:37:29,448
I can't tell you how much
I agreed with that.
1877
01:37:30,424 --> 01:37:32,052
Did you deserve the award?
National Book?
1878
01:37:32,326 --> 01:37:34,420
Definitely. They didn't give it to him. Good.
1879
01:37:34,561 --> 01:37:36,257
I'll complain if I don't have my money.
1880
01:37:36,530 --> 01:37:38,123
I will complain
if she doesn't get her money.
1881
01:37:38,499 --> 01:37:40,934
But I won't complain
that its aesthetic
1882
01:37:41,101 --> 01:37:42,592
don't understand black people.
1883
01:37:45,305 --> 01:37:46,637
What is your answer?
because now
1884
01:37:46,940 --> 01:37:49,136
is trapped
in the middle of all this.
1885
01:37:49,376 --> 01:37:51,277
It's easily the most important thing
1886
01:37:51,445 --> 01:37:54,176
what happened to me
in my life as a writer.
1887
01:37:54,915 --> 01:37:57,407
I write from culture
like everyone does,
1888
01:37:58,152 --> 01:38:00,144
for her, by her, and I am in her.
1889
01:38:00,687 --> 01:38:03,247
So a portion of that culture
he told me...
1890
01:38:04,925 --> 01:38:05,585
...«Amen».
1891
01:38:05,959 --> 01:38:07,086
BELOVED
A NOVEL
1892
01:38:07,261 --> 01:38:09,492
In a delivery committee
prizes, souvenir
1893
01:38:09,696 --> 01:38:13,064
that we began to discuss
about Beloved,
1894
01:38:13,467 --> 01:38:15,527
was arguing
with a writer,
1895
01:38:15,702 --> 01:38:17,432
there were two of them, both women,
1896
01:38:17,604 --> 01:38:20,472
one black and one white.
The black woman said:
1897
01:38:20,641 --> 01:38:23,236
"Are you trying to tell me
that African Americans
1898
01:38:23,510 --> 01:38:26,378
They have historical experience
1899
01:38:26,947 --> 01:38:31,043
and social different from that of any
another American immigrant?
1900
01:38:31,552 --> 01:38:32,986
I said, “Yes.
1901
01:38:33,520 --> 01:38:35,250
“I certainly try to do that.”
1902
01:38:36,056 --> 01:38:38,616
It's an experience
very specific
1903
01:38:39,293 --> 01:38:41,956
and it's different
to that of the Irish,
1904
01:38:42,129 --> 01:38:44,564
within which
my ancestors are there,
1905
01:38:44,698 --> 01:38:46,496
and that of the Italians and Jews.
1906
01:38:46,600 --> 01:38:49,126
But that discussion
It still lasts today.
1907
01:38:49,670 --> 01:38:52,071
In the US we are immigrants,
1908
01:38:52,406 --> 01:38:54,068
or children of immigrants.
1909
01:38:55,042 --> 01:38:56,510
We are one people,
1910
01:38:57,044 --> 01:39:00,981
but a people formed from
of many nations and races...
1911
01:39:02,249 --> 01:39:05,583
...a people who came to the US.
during a great migration
1912
01:39:05,986 --> 01:39:08,285
from Europe to other parts of the world.
1913
01:39:10,524 --> 01:39:13,221
In this migration,
million Europeans
1914
01:39:13,327 --> 01:39:14,659
they left their native country
1915
01:39:15,028 --> 01:39:17,657
to settle in new countries
crossing the seas.
1916
01:39:17,764 --> 01:39:20,097
No. 536 IRON NECKLACE FOR
LET THE SLAVES NOT ESCAPE.
1917
01:39:20,200 --> 01:39:23,136
Almost two thirds of them
They came to the USA
1918
01:39:36,216 --> 01:39:37,411
REX THEATER
FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR
1919
01:40:05,779 --> 01:40:07,077
The blacks were constant.
1920
01:40:07,447 --> 01:40:09,541
Everyone could despise them.
1921
01:40:10,150 --> 01:40:12,745
Italian, Polish, immigrants
1922
01:40:13,120 --> 01:40:16,522
there was always a bottom
with whom you could be hostile.
1923
01:40:17,157 --> 01:40:19,820
And that served to unite the country
1924
01:40:20,193 --> 01:40:23,527
and transform it into a hive
where I lived as a child,
1925
01:40:24,298 --> 01:40:27,462
without knowing what I know now,
which is how it came to be there.
1926
01:40:27,834 --> 01:40:30,827
What was the base, the basin, the pot?
1927
01:40:31,638 --> 01:40:32,628
The hive.
1928
01:40:33,140 --> 01:40:34,506
Black people were the pot.
1929
01:40:37,144 --> 01:40:40,512
and everything else
everything melted together
1930
01:40:40,681 --> 01:40:42,741
and what? United States.
1931
01:40:44,585 --> 01:40:46,520
This is how you get there
to be American.
1932
01:40:47,487 --> 01:40:49,115
If you get into that pot...
1933
01:40:49,690 --> 01:40:52,819
...of black people. Then
you can be nice to the jews,
1934
01:40:53,293 --> 01:40:56,127
Italians, Catholics or whatever.
1935
01:40:56,830 --> 01:40:58,321
That's my opinion.
1936
01:41:06,707 --> 01:41:09,199
You, Toni Morrison,
winner of the Pulitzer Prize,
1937
01:41:09,443 --> 01:41:11,708
successful, respected
in the academic halls,
1938
01:41:12,145 --> 01:41:13,704
do you still have that meeting?
1939
01:41:14,414 --> 01:41:15,780
Yes, but I'll tell you something.
1940
01:41:16,149 --> 01:41:17,173
It's the wrong question.
1941
01:41:17,351 --> 01:41:18,580
Yes, what is the right question?
1942
01:41:18,852 --> 01:41:21,720
How do you feel?
Don't you understand
1943
01:41:22,289 --> 01:41:23,780
that the people who do this,
1944
01:41:24,157 --> 01:41:25,648
- who practices racism...
- Good.
1945
01:41:26,293 --> 01:41:27,317
...is it lacking?
1946
01:41:27,794 --> 01:41:31,231
It's something distorted about the mind.
1947
01:41:31,565 --> 01:41:33,727
It's a big waste,
1948
01:41:34,234 --> 01:41:36,635
and it is a corruption and a distortion.
1949
01:41:37,237 --> 01:41:39,536
It's as if it were
a deep neurosis
1950
01:41:39,873 --> 01:41:41,865
that no one examines for what it is.
1951
01:41:42,275 --> 01:41:44,403
It seems crazy. It's crazy.
1952
01:41:45,245 --> 01:41:47,646
It has a harmful effect...
1953
01:41:48,548 --> 01:41:51,575
...in white people
as it does in black people.
1954
01:41:52,619 --> 01:41:55,783
If the racist white person
does not understand
1955
01:41:56,256 --> 01:41:58,384
that he or she is also a race,
1956
01:41:58,792 --> 01:42:02,422
It is also built and made
1957
01:42:02,696 --> 01:42:04,858
and also has
a kind of utility,
1958
01:42:05,432 --> 01:42:08,664
but when you take it away,
I take away your race,
1959
01:42:09,403 --> 01:42:10,632
and there you are,
up to the crown of the head,
1960
01:42:10,871 --> 01:42:13,272
and the only thing you have
It is your little being.
1961
01:42:13,640 --> 01:42:17,338
What's that?
What are you without racism?
1962
01:42:17,944 --> 01:42:20,573
Are you of any use?
Are you still strong?
1963
01:42:21,181 --> 01:42:22,342
Are you still smart?
1964
01:42:26,520 --> 01:42:28,386
If you can be tall
1965
01:42:28,855 --> 01:42:30,721
because someone is kneeling,
1966
01:42:30,891 --> 01:42:32,621
then you have a serious problem.
1967
01:42:32,893 --> 01:42:34,885
And I feel that white people...
1968
01:42:35,862 --> 01:42:39,731
...has a serious problem
1969
01:42:40,367 --> 01:42:44,702
and you should start thinking
on what they can do about it.
1970
01:42:45,439 --> 01:42:46,566
Get me out of there.
1971
01:43:05,358 --> 01:43:06,917
When Toni won the Nobel Prize,
1972
01:43:07,260 --> 01:43:08,694
I was in my apartment
from New York.
1973
01:43:08,795 --> 01:43:11,230
I remember it very vividly,
I was in the shower
1974
01:43:11,598 --> 01:43:13,260
but I had the radio
lit in the kitchen,
1975
01:43:13,433 --> 01:43:14,662
I was listening to the news.
1976
01:43:14,935 --> 01:43:17,336
In the shower, I heard and thought
1977
01:43:17,738 --> 01:43:19,707
that Toni had won
the Nobel Prize for literature.
1978
01:43:20,474 --> 01:43:22,375
a news station
tells you the same news
1979
01:43:22,576 --> 01:43:24,272
every 22 minutes,
I was so surprised,
1980
01:43:24,444 --> 01:43:26,777
I thought I was hearing wrong.
I got out of the shower
1981
01:43:27,314 --> 01:43:28,976
and I stood still,
soaked, for 22 minutes
1982
01:43:29,349 --> 01:43:30,578
until they repeated the news.
1983
01:43:31,651 --> 01:43:32,744
And I couldn't believe it.
1984
01:43:32,919 --> 01:43:35,411
I woke up close
from 3:00 in the morning,
1985
01:43:35,622 --> 01:43:37,682
I turned on the silly box
and announced
1986
01:43:37,858 --> 01:43:40,692
that Toni Morrison had received
the Nobel Prize for literature.
1987
01:43:40,961 --> 01:43:43,931
So I called her on the phone,
and the son answered me.
1988
01:43:44,631 --> 01:43:45,963
«Is Toni there?
Is your mom there?
1989
01:43:46,366 --> 01:43:47,994
I said, "He won the Nobel Prize."
1990
01:43:48,368 --> 01:43:50,735
He said to me: “Really?
"He's in Princeton."
1991
01:43:50,904 --> 01:43:52,998
So I called again
and Toni answered.
1992
01:43:53,373 --> 01:43:55,433
I found out the news from a friend
1993
01:43:55,609 --> 01:43:57,009
who called me early in the morning
1994
01:43:57,444 --> 01:43:59,037
and he told me: «Toni,
"You won the Nobel Prize."
1995
01:43:59,646 --> 01:44:01,547
And I remember that I had
the phone and I thought:
1996
01:44:02,315 --> 01:44:04,546
“She must be drunk,” and I hung up.
1997
01:44:04,751 --> 01:44:06,720
He called me again,
and I said, "How do you know?"
1998
01:44:06,887 --> 01:44:08,446
Why would I know anything?
that I didn't know?
1999
01:44:08,822 --> 01:44:09,790
And I went to work.
2000
01:44:11,458 --> 01:44:12,790
Then suddenly, there were many
2001
01:44:13,360 --> 01:44:15,591
cameras, things and people...
2002
01:44:16,730 --> 01:44:18,858
...and I smiled just in case.
2003
01:44:19,966 --> 01:44:21,025
I wasn't sure why
2004
01:44:21,568 --> 01:44:23,833
the prize people
He hadn't told me anything.
2005
01:44:24,037 --> 01:44:26,370
At 12:00 I was in my office,
2006
01:44:26,673 --> 01:44:29,336
I received a call from Sweden,
2007
01:44:29,509 --> 01:44:31,569
and they told me I had won
the Nobel Prize,
2008
01:44:31,812 --> 01:44:34,941
They congratulated me and all that.
A lovely conversation,
2009
01:44:35,515 --> 01:44:37,814
and I told them:
"Could you fax it to me?"
2010
01:44:40,654 --> 01:44:42,816
It could have been a joke.
You already know.
2011
01:44:43,323 --> 01:44:44,951
They said, "Of course."
and they did it.
2012
01:44:47,060 --> 01:44:48,653
DEAR COLLEAGUE:
TODAY THE SWEDISH ACADEMY
2013
01:44:48,795 --> 01:44:50,457
HE DECIDED TO GIVE HIM THE PRIZE
NOBEL OF LITERATURE
2014
01:44:50,564 --> 01:44:51,998
What will you do with the money?
2015
01:44:52,365 --> 01:44:54,664
That is, for me,
It's a new experience
2016
01:44:54,868 --> 01:44:56,564
that of deciding
what to do with the money,
2017
01:44:57,037 --> 01:44:59,006
so I'm not good at it.
I don't have practice.
2018
01:44:59,706 --> 01:45:03,108
So, I'll think about it carefully.
2019
01:45:03,476 --> 01:45:04,808
and I'll try to think of something
2020
01:45:05,745 --> 01:45:08,579
wonderful to do
let it not be the obvious,
2021
01:45:08,748 --> 01:45:10,683
that is, pay the mortgage or something.
2022
01:45:11,351 --> 01:45:13,445
What do you think it is,
If you can tell us,
2023
01:45:13,553 --> 01:45:15,351
what the difference
of so many others?
2024
01:45:15,822 --> 01:45:18,348
What does it say that others want to hear?
2025
01:45:19,526 --> 01:45:20,960
I think I write well...
2026
01:45:21,862 --> 01:45:24,991
...and I think I have
a distinctive voice.
2027
01:45:25,732 --> 01:45:28,861
That's what makes writing
a very difficult, risky project
2028
01:45:29,436 --> 01:45:30,768
and very powerful.
2029
01:45:35,141 --> 01:45:36,939
I called a florist in Princeton
2030
01:45:37,510 --> 01:45:38,876
so that I could send her flowers.
2031
01:45:39,045 --> 01:45:41,537
And the woman, the florist, told me:
2032
01:45:41,882 --> 01:45:42,906
«What's going on there?
2033
01:45:43,083 --> 01:45:45,382
We have been sending flowers
there all day.
2034
01:45:45,919 --> 01:45:49,549
I told him, proud:
"He won the Nobel Prize."
2035
01:45:49,890 --> 01:45:52,553
And the florist, this
It only happens in Princeton,
2036
01:45:52,726 --> 01:45:54,661
maybe in Cambridge,
He said, "In what?"
2037
01:45:56,529 --> 01:45:59,124
And I said: "Literature",
and he said: "Ah."
2038
01:46:01,935 --> 01:46:05,804
I am delighted
to represent Ohio,
2039
01:46:06,072 --> 01:46:09,509
and to represent the state
from New York because I live there,
2040
01:46:09,743 --> 01:46:12,440
and to New Jersey
because I live and work here.
2041
01:46:12,812 --> 01:46:14,747
And to represent the USA.
2042
01:46:15,448 --> 01:46:18,043
As American winner
of a fiction prize,
2043
01:46:18,518 --> 01:46:20,919
born native and also in particular
2044
01:46:21,554 --> 01:46:23,022
because I'm African American.
2045
01:46:23,657 --> 01:46:26,650
And I am a woman,
so I'm handing out
2046
01:46:26,760 --> 01:46:28,820
this all over the place.
2047
01:46:35,435 --> 01:46:37,529
I like the Nobel Prize...
2048
01:46:38,505 --> 01:46:40,838
...because they know how to throw a party,
2049
01:46:41,174 --> 01:46:42,767
I tell you.
2050
01:46:43,877 --> 01:46:45,175
It was huge.
2051
01:46:46,112 --> 01:46:50,140
They wake you up with crowns,
flowers, music.
2052
01:46:50,750 --> 01:46:51,683
But it was light,
2053
01:46:52,018 --> 01:46:54,453
It wasn't like the Nobel Prize.
2054
01:46:54,688 --> 01:46:58,591
It was light, lovely and warm.
2055
01:47:00,026 --> 01:47:01,494
Toni loves this kind of thing.
2056
01:47:02,062 --> 01:47:03,963
I mean, it's not like there are many things
2057
01:47:04,164 --> 01:47:06,690
like the Nobel Prize,
but Toni loves things like this.
2058
01:47:06,900 --> 01:47:09,631
Toni loves prizes, gifts.
2059
01:47:10,003 --> 01:47:11,904
I have a birthday.
"No, no gifts."
2060
01:47:12,072 --> 01:47:13,802
If it's Toni's birthday,
bring him a gift.
2061
01:47:18,912 --> 01:47:20,710
He decided he would bring a lot of friends
2062
01:47:20,947 --> 01:47:24,577
and he invited me. It was very fun.
2063
01:47:25,251 --> 01:47:26,913
I recommend you
2064
01:47:27,220 --> 01:47:29,587
that they have a friend
may he win the Nobel Prize.
2065
01:47:30,557 --> 01:47:31,923
I invited John Leonard
2066
01:47:32,592 --> 01:47:33,992
because he had been the first person
2067
01:47:34,194 --> 01:47:35,992
who took my job seriously.
2068
01:47:36,863 --> 01:47:39,128
I invited him to go to Stockholm.
2069
01:47:39,499 --> 01:47:41,593
He said, "I don't know if I can do it."
2070
01:47:43,770 --> 01:47:45,602
And I told him: «They will never invite you again
2071
01:47:45,805 --> 01:47:47,171
to this."
2072
01:47:47,674 --> 01:47:49,575
And he said, "You're right," and he went.
2073
01:47:50,043 --> 01:47:51,136
We had a lot of fun.
2074
01:47:53,747 --> 01:47:54,942
Before the dance, we spent...
2075
01:47:55,081 --> 01:47:57,573
A group of girls, I would say,
2076
01:47:57,751 --> 01:47:59,185
we were there for a couple of hours
in a room
2077
01:47:59,552 --> 01:48:01,885
choosing gloves
for her and shoes.
2078
01:48:02,055 --> 01:48:04,718
Toni loves clothes,
that's the other thing.
2079
01:48:14,234 --> 01:48:16,897
When Toni won the Nobel Prize,
2080
01:48:17,103 --> 01:48:19,265
it was not only
an important moment
2081
01:48:19,639 --> 01:48:21,267
for African American literature,
2082
01:48:21,741 --> 01:48:23,903
I think it was a moment
important for the prize.
2083
01:48:24,577 --> 01:48:28,070
How many women have won?
Two, three women?
2084
01:48:28,815 --> 01:48:30,909
It was a moment
for American literature.
2085
01:48:31,051 --> 01:48:32,952
It was a moment for
contemporary literature.
2086
01:48:33,119 --> 01:48:37,648
I mean, it was a moment
for so many corners of the world
2087
01:48:37,857 --> 01:48:39,849
that not always
They accepted it completely.
2088
01:48:40,026 --> 01:48:43,019
Don't forget that when I started
to write in the early 60s
2089
01:48:43,329 --> 01:48:44,854
and Toni also started writing,
2090
01:48:45,198 --> 01:48:46,689
Faulkner was still alive.
2091
01:48:47,801 --> 01:48:49,269
Hemingway was still alive.
2092
01:48:50,203 --> 01:48:52,695
Fitzgerald had just died.
2093
01:48:53,039 --> 01:48:54,200
It was a club,
2094
01:48:54,574 --> 01:48:58,033
a small clubhouse
with few members.
2095
01:48:58,211 --> 01:49:00,203
You think of a pyramid
with a very small base
2096
01:49:00,580 --> 01:49:02,913
and vertical...
with almost vertical sides
2097
01:49:03,016 --> 01:49:04,780
that come to a point
delicate at the top
2098
01:49:05,185 --> 01:49:07,848
where three or four white men
they could be together
2099
01:49:08,788 --> 01:49:09,721
and fight it.
2100
01:49:09,956 --> 01:49:13,290
Then suddenly the canon
It was not private property
2101
01:49:13,693 --> 01:49:17,824
from white male writers
of a certain type or class.
2102
01:49:18,098 --> 01:49:21,068
It would have to be
everyone's property.
2103
01:49:22,869 --> 01:49:24,701
They called me from the Washington Post
and they asked me
2104
01:49:24,871 --> 01:49:27,306
a comment, and I made
a glorious comment.
2105
01:49:28,274 --> 01:49:29,799
But when
the newspaper article...
2106
01:49:29,909 --> 01:49:31,172
AUTHOR TONI MORRISON
WIN NOBEL PRIZE
2107
01:49:31,277 --> 01:49:32,973
...it came out, there was no comment
2108
01:49:33,146 --> 01:49:34,910
about what he had said,
the praise he had.
2109
01:49:35,115 --> 01:49:37,141
They were comments
of three male writers
2110
01:49:37,350 --> 01:49:40,286
who said: "Write
all that about women.
2111
01:49:40,753 --> 01:49:42,984
He does all that stuff about slavery.”
2112
01:49:43,189 --> 01:49:45,385
They even said I didn't deserve
the Nobel Prize.
2113
01:49:45,925 --> 01:49:47,951
I was very surprised.
2114
01:49:48,094 --> 01:49:49,687
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1993
2115
01:49:50,063 --> 01:49:51,861
AUTHOR TONI MORRISON
WIN NOBEL PRIZE
2116
01:49:52,031 --> 01:49:53,329
Beloved was a fraud.
2117
01:49:55,335 --> 01:49:57,930
Gave a false version
of the slave trade.
2118
01:49:59,873 --> 01:50:01,239
All the boys
They are angry.
2119
01:50:02,709 --> 01:50:04,075
And women like it.
2120
01:50:07,180 --> 01:50:08,705
It is represented
whites as bad.
2121
01:50:10,016 --> 01:50:10,949
To the men.
2122
01:50:12,018 --> 01:50:13,111
To black men.
2123
01:50:14,854 --> 01:50:18,313
I hope this award inspires you
to write better books.
2124
01:50:19,659 --> 01:50:22,891
The award was a triumph
of political precision.
2125
01:50:26,399 --> 01:50:30,166
Unfortunately, when women
or black men
2126
01:50:30,703 --> 01:50:33,298
they receive the praise
which they certainly deserve,
2127
01:50:33,673 --> 01:50:35,005
he questions it.
2128
01:50:35,308 --> 01:50:36,708
Was it a political decision?
2129
01:50:36,876 --> 01:50:39,937
Did they just choose her to do
what is politically correct?
2130
01:50:40,246 --> 01:50:42,306
and I always think
that those people didn't read it.
2131
01:50:42,949 --> 01:50:44,815
He didn't read it because
If they had read it,
2132
01:50:44,984 --> 01:50:47,317
would not question
what if they were to deliver
2133
01:50:47,687 --> 01:50:49,849
a Nobel Prize,
She should receive it.
2134
01:50:50,023 --> 01:50:53,187
It was the absolute justification,
legitimation,
2135
01:50:53,359 --> 01:50:55,157
the sense that this writer,
2136
01:50:55,695 --> 01:50:57,391
that had been ignored
for a long time,
2137
01:50:57,764 --> 01:50:59,426
that had been underestimated
for some,
2138
01:50:59,866 --> 01:51:01,232
that on the world stage...
2139
01:51:01,968 --> 01:51:04,733
...on the world stage,
she was a star.
2140
01:51:24,824 --> 01:51:26,952
When I was writing
Song of Solomon...
2141
01:51:28,294 --> 01:51:30,320
...there was a character there
called Pilate.
2142
01:51:32,465 --> 01:51:33,433
She threatened me...
2143
01:51:34,934 --> 01:51:35,799
...a lot.
2144
01:51:39,272 --> 01:51:41,298
It threatened the book.
She will take over.
2145
01:51:43,076 --> 01:51:43,975
I'm serious.
2146
01:51:44,877 --> 01:51:45,901
I told him to shut up.
2147
01:51:46,446 --> 01:51:47,937
This is my book, not yours.
2148
01:51:50,083 --> 01:51:52,450
Actually, she only talks
at the funeral...
2149
01:51:53,086 --> 01:51:53,985
...from his daughter.
2150
01:51:54,954 --> 01:51:56,786
And he breaks into that church...
2151
01:51:57,757 --> 01:52:03,219
...and says over and over again:
"And she was loved."
2152
01:52:05,231 --> 01:52:08,258
A totally woman
generous and free. Without fears.
2153
01:52:08,868 --> 01:52:11,064
He is not afraid of anything.
And complete...
2154
01:52:11,804 --> 01:52:13,329
...clarity about who it is.
2155
01:52:13,806 --> 01:52:15,001
Do you know people like that?
2156
01:52:15,108 --> 01:52:16,838
Yes, in my family.
2157
01:52:17,944 --> 01:52:19,936
Women who presented themselves to me like this.
2158
01:52:20,280 --> 01:52:21,976
They were absolutely clear.
2159
01:52:22,982 --> 01:52:25,417
And they had a kind
of intimate relationship with God,
2160
01:52:25,818 --> 01:52:27,343
death and all kinds of things
2161
01:52:27,887 --> 01:52:30,447
that instill fear
in the modern heart.
2162
01:52:31,090 --> 01:52:32,820
They had a language for it...
2163
01:52:33,226 --> 01:52:34,250
...and they had a...
2164
01:52:35,161 --> 01:52:37,187
I don't know, a blessing.
2165
01:52:38,464 --> 01:52:40,194
But they didn't seem to have...
2166
01:52:41,267 --> 01:52:42,166
...fear.
2167
01:52:44,137 --> 01:52:45,469
Stop with those women
2168
01:52:45,571 --> 01:52:48,405
I feel an enormous responsibility.
2169
01:52:49,208 --> 01:52:52,110
I would think of my great-grandmother, and...
2170
01:52:52,378 --> 01:52:55,075
...his daughter, and his daughter...
2171
01:52:55,448 --> 01:52:59,408
...and all those women who...
Incredible things happened to them.
2172
01:52:59,585 --> 01:53:01,486
They never knew
from one day to the next...
2173
01:53:03,222 --> 01:53:04,349
...nothing.
2174
01:53:04,991 --> 01:53:08,086
But they believed in their dignity...
2175
01:53:09,362 --> 01:53:11,354
...who were people of value...
2176
01:53:12,131 --> 01:53:14,066
...that they had to go through it
to future generations.
2177
01:53:15,068 --> 01:53:16,092
And they did it.
2178
01:53:22,208 --> 01:53:25,542
One of the characters says
at the end of Song of Solomon...
2179
01:53:27,113 --> 01:53:31,016
...«And she was loved».
2180
01:53:32,385 --> 01:53:37,050
"And she was loved."
2181
01:53:38,424 --> 01:53:41,189
This is the anthem of any life.
2182
01:53:41,361 --> 01:53:44,923
You can come to the planet
and do what you do,
2183
01:53:45,098 --> 01:53:46,464
achieve what you achieve,
2184
01:53:46,866 --> 01:53:49,461
awards, no awards,
titles, no titles,
2185
01:53:50,103 --> 01:53:51,594
successes, no successes.
2186
01:53:53,573 --> 01:53:56,202
I think you got the gist
of what it means
2187
01:53:56,509 --> 01:53:59,343
being human, being alive and...
2188
01:54:00,213 --> 01:54:01,977
...that it went well for you
here on Earth.
2189
01:54:04,283 --> 01:54:06,047
And we can say the same about her.
2190
01:54:07,186 --> 01:54:10,418
And she is loved.
2191
01:54:16,329 --> 01:54:20,130
One of the things you know
about sister Toni,
2192
01:54:20,333 --> 01:54:22,666
when I saw her for the first time...
2193
01:54:23,035 --> 01:54:25,504
I saw...
2194
01:54:26,005 --> 01:54:27,667
...a white light
around her...
2195
01:54:28,374 --> 01:54:29,967
...you know...
2196
01:54:39,085 --> 01:54:42,112
and there are people
2197
01:54:42,288 --> 01:54:44,086
who are the lucky ones...
2198
01:54:44,590 --> 01:54:45,956
...that puts them here...
2199
01:54:47,326 --> 01:54:50,922
...to make us analyze ourselves
2200
01:54:51,330 --> 01:54:55,563
to be able to walk upright
finally as human beings,
2201
01:54:55,968 --> 01:54:58,096
finally as human beings.
2202
01:55:05,545 --> 01:55:06,535
On earth...
2203
01:55:08,014 --> 01:55:11,178
...holding everything together,
but willing to risk...
2204
01:55:12,318 --> 01:55:15,379
...and go far into the sea.
2205
01:55:19,325 --> 01:55:20,224
Courage.
2206
01:55:21,160 --> 01:55:22,287
Domesticity.
2207
01:55:24,063 --> 01:55:26,032
This is what it means
black people for me...
2208
01:55:26,699 --> 01:55:29,032
...and it still means to others.
2209
01:55:30,470 --> 01:55:33,668
But for me, the story
from the place of black people...
2210
01:55:35,074 --> 01:55:36,303
...in this country...
2211
01:55:36,976 --> 01:55:39,275
...is very varied,
2212
01:55:39,645 --> 01:55:42,274
complex and beautiful.
2213
01:55:43,416 --> 01:55:45,146
And shocking.
2214
01:55:46,152 --> 01:55:47,484
It had a great impact.
2215
01:55:48,454 --> 01:55:51,515
no one could have loved
as much as we...
2216
01:55:52,592 --> 01:55:55,255
...have moved on with your life
as much as we...
2217
01:55:56,462 --> 01:55:57,691
...have continued...
2218
01:55:59,365 --> 01:56:02,460
...and have considered
the efforts...
2219
01:56:03,302 --> 01:56:05,567
...to make sure
that we never did it.
2220
01:56:06,405 --> 01:56:07,429
Have considered that.
2221
01:56:08,441 --> 01:56:09,409
It's wonderful.
2222
01:56:14,280 --> 01:56:15,646
Once, I was in a place...
2223
01:56:17,116 --> 01:56:18,049
...in Vienna.
2224
01:56:19,285 --> 01:56:21,220
They had an art festival.
2225
01:56:22,488 --> 01:56:25,390
And they asked me to go
to a room and I put myself...
2226
01:56:25,791 --> 01:56:27,589
...in front of a mirror...
2227
01:56:28,561 --> 01:56:30,291
...in a room that
It was totally dark.
2228
01:56:31,063 --> 01:56:33,089
And they told me to raise my hand...
2229
01:56:33,699 --> 01:56:35,167
...and support it in the mirror...
2230
01:56:36,102 --> 01:56:38,571
...and for me to stop there.
Then I saw...
2231
01:56:40,273 --> 01:56:41,741
...in the distance a figure...
2232
01:56:42,808 --> 01:56:46,643
...which was getting closer and closer.
2233
01:56:47,246 --> 01:56:48,373
And he raised his hand.
2234
01:56:49,282 --> 01:56:50,443
And our hands touched.
2235
01:56:51,484 --> 01:56:53,077
Neither of the two
said a word...
2236
01:56:53,686 --> 01:56:57,748
...just interest, curiosity
and human connection.
2237
01:56:58,357 --> 01:57:01,521
That experience says a lot more
2238
01:57:01,761 --> 01:57:04,663
about what i believe
What do I do when I write?
2239
01:57:06,098 --> 01:57:08,158
I know I'm not you.
2240
01:57:08,534 --> 01:57:10,833
I know I don't know you,
2241
01:57:11,337 --> 01:57:12,305
but I know this.
2242
02:00:23,362 --> 02:00:25,331
Subtitles: María Ratto