Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison died last Monday at age 88, leaving behind a legacy of writings which examine racial tension, sexism and the power of language.
Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett G. Price III joined Boston Public Radio on Monday to speak about Morrison's ability to empower and empathize with diverse communities.
"She did so much in terms of telling the fullness not only of black women's lives, but of women's lives in general," Monroe said. "She wrote about us — she de-centered that whole notion of the 'white gaze.'"
Morrison was "unapologetically black," Monroe added.
Price said Morrison's voice came through in her novels, essays and plays.
"The way that she wrote invited us as men into a conversation that we wouldn't necessarily have been invited into, and she did it in a very unapologetic, uncompromising way. It let us see the other side. It was an invitation, and that's what was important about her voice," he said.
Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist and the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail and a visiting researcher in the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at Boston University School of Theology.
Price is professor of worship, church & culture and founding executive director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Together they host the All Rev’d Up podcast, produced by WGBH.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed a quote to Price that should have been attributed to Monroe.
