Q 01/05

What was Toni Morrison's name at birth?

A) Antonia Chloe Willis

B) Ramah Willis Wofford

C) Toni Cade Wofford

D) Chloe Ardelia Wofford

Answer · why

D) Chloe Ardelia Wofford

She became a Catholic at 12 and took the baptismal name Anthony, after Anthony of Padua, which was shortened to the nickname Toni.

Q 02/05

In which Ohio town was Morrison born and raised?

A) Akron

B) Toledo

C) Dayton

D) Lorain

Answer · why

D) Lorain

The town west of Cleveland is also the setting of her debut novel, and since 2019 it has marked her birthday, February 18, as Toni Morrison Day.

Q 03/05

Her nickname 'Toni' came from the baptismal name she took when she became a Catholic at 12. What was it?

A) Antonia

B) Antoinette

C) Antonina

D) Anthony

Answer · why

D) Anthony

She chose it after Anthony of Padua; at Lorain High School she was on the debate team, the yearbook staff and in the drama club.

Q 04/05

What did Morrison's family's landlord do when her parents couldn't pay the rent?

A) Evicted them in winter

B) Sold their furniture

C) Called the police

D) Set fire to their house

Answer · why

D) Set fire to their house

The family responded to what she called this 'bizarre form of evil' by laughing at the landlord rather than falling into despair.

Q 05/05

Which two authors were among Morrison's favorites as a child?

A) Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes

B) Charles Dickens and Mark Twain

C) Emily Brontë and Victor Hugo

D) Jane Austen and Leo Tolstoy

Answer · why

D) Jane Austen and Leo Tolstoy

Her parents also passed on a sense of heritage through African-American folktales, ghost stories and songs.