Beloved
In 1993, author Tony Morrison was the first African American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature and she did it by filling in “huge silences in literature…silences about black girls, black women, contemporary stories.”
Known best for her works, Beloved, The Song of Solomon and others, the Swedish Academy commented that Ms. Morrison’s writing reflects “…a language she wants to liberate from the fetters of race. And she addresses us with the luster of poetry."
Perhaps inspired by this milestone, in 1998, the Metro Women’s Project joined Cedar Rapids Metro High School to coordinate a book club specifically designed for at risk African-American and bi-racial girls. The focus was to empower the girls by improving self-image, self-determination and coming together as a network of sisters.
(Contributed by Sarah Hankel)
