An ex-slave turned businesswoman and abolitionist is remembered in Nyack thanks to the author of Beloved.
by Rich Watson
Toni Morrison was one of the most critically acclaimed authors of the twentieth century. In addition to winning the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature, she received the Pulitzer, the American Book Award, seven honorary doctorates and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Her 1987 novel Beloved was the impetus for a project that commemorated the lives of African slaves. She used benches to mark their memories, in places across America—including her adopted hometown of Nyack.
Toni Morrison, in brief
The Lorain, Ohio native and Howard University graduate worked as an editor at Random House beginning in 1965. She shepherded the publication of a variety of books by and about African Americans.
Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye, came out in 1970. The New York Times praised it. Her writing career took off from there. It became one of the most frequently-banned books of all time. Her Nobel Prize win was for Eye.
Subsequent books of hers received kudos from the National Book Award (nomination) and the National Book Critics Circle Award (win).
In 1988, Beloved won the Pulitzer Prize. Her Nyack neighbor, Jonathan Demme, directed the film adaptation in 1998 after a struggle by co-star and noted tastemaker Oprah Winfrey to get the film made.
Beginning in the eighties, Morrison taught at SUNY and Rutgers. For a time, she was a visiting professor at Bard College. She held the Chair in the Humanities at Princeton University from 1989-2006. In 2017 Princeton dedicated a hall to her.
In 1993, the Toni Morrison Society dedicated itself to scholarly study of her work. In 2012 it found a home at Oberlin College in Ohio.
About Nyack
Morrison moved to the Nyack area in 1983 to spend more time writing. Her house was in the nearby village of Grand View-on-Hudson.
Nyack, a village on the Hudson’s west bank, lies just north of the Mario Cuomo Bridge, across the river from Tarrytown. Its original name was “Tappan,” after the Indian tribe that originally settled there. It was incorporated in 1872. The Cuomo Bridge was called the Tappan Zee Bridge, “zee” meaning sea in Dutch.
Painter Edward Hopper was born in Nyack. His birthplace is now a historic site.
Carson McCullers lived in Nyack. Her home, too, is a landmark.
The Bench by the Road Project
Beloved is about a family of freed slaves haunted by the ghost of their eldest daughter. In promotion for the book in 1989, Morrison lamented the dearth of places to mark the existence of slaves, saying there was “no small bench by the road.” Her book sought to rectify that.
The TMS adopted the phrase as its motto. Then, in 2006, as part of Morrison’s seventy-fifth birthday, they launched an initiative with that name, seeking to raise awareness of people and events associated with African slavery but forgotten to time.
They did it by installing benches, with plaques.
The first bench was in 2008, on Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, where many slaves first set foot in the New World. There are twenty benches to date, around the US, plus ones in Paris and Martinique.
Nyack’s Bench for Cynthia Hesdra
The TMS installed Nyack’s Bench by the Road in remembrance of Cynthia Hesdra. Born free in Rockland County in 1808, she was enslaved through unknown circumstances.
She met and married the half-black son of a white planter, who bought her freedom. She became a businesswoman both in Nyack and New York City, as well as an Underground Railroad “conductor.” At the time of her death in 1879, she was worth a fortune, which led to a legal battle that lasted years.
Morrison appeared at a 2015 ceremony for Hesdra and her Bench. Nyack also commemorates Hesdra with a street named for her.
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News: Jenny Hammerton writes a very nice blog about classic film and food called Silver Screen Suppers. I recently did a guest post for her about the drink named for Shirley Temple.
@byrichwatson
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September 13: A blogathon post for British movies.
Beginning September 27: A series on toys and games!
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