By: HISTORY.com Editors

1978

“Song of Solomon” wins National Book Critics Circle Award

Published: November 13, 2009Last Updated: May 27, 2025

On January 11, 1978, Toni Morrison wins the National Book Critics Circle Award for Song of Solomon. The award brought the writer national attention for the first time, although she had already published two moderately successful books, The Bluest Eye (1969) and Sula (1973). Morrison went on to win the Pulitzer in 1988 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993.

Morrison was born Chloe Anthony Wofford in the steel town of Lorain, Ohio, to a welder father and homemaker mother. She graduated from Howard University in 1953, then took a master’s in literature at Cornell. She married architect Howard Morrison and had two sons. After she and her husband divorced, Morrison taught English and worked as one of the very few Black editors at Random House. She published her first novel in 1969. After the publication of her breakthrough novel in 1978, she published Tar Baby (1981) and Jazz (1992). Her 1987 novel, Beloved, the story of a 19th-century enslaved woman who escapes bondage but is forced to kill her own baby, won the Pulitzer.

When Morrison won the Nobel Prize in 1993, she became the first African American to win the award, as well as the first American woman to win in more than 50 years. The same year, a fire destroyed her Nyack, New York, home—fortunately, she’d left the manuscript of her next novel, Paradise, in her office at Princeton University, where she was teaching creative writing. The book, published in 1998, explored the dynamics of an all-Black town in the late 1960s. Morrison died on August 5, 2019. Her last novel was 2015's God Help the Child.

Black Women in Art and Literature

By: HISTORY.com Editors

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on January 11th

1775

Jewish patriot joins Provincial Congress of South Carolina

Francis Salvador, the first Jewish person to hold an elected office in the Americas, takes his seat on the South Carolina Provincial Congress on January 11, 1775. He later became the first recorded Jewish soldier killed in the American War for Independence. Born in 1747, Salvador was descended from a line of prominent Sephardic Jews […]

1:52m read

1863

Battle of Arkansas Post

On January 11, 1863, Union General John McClernand and Admiral David Porter capture Arkansas Post, a Confederate stronghold on the Arkansas River. The victory secured central Arkansas for the Union and lifted Northern morale just three weeks after the disastrous Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Arkansas Post was a massive fort 25 miles from the confluence […]

1:40m read

1879

Anglo-Zulu War begins

After the Zulu kingdom ignores the British ultimatum to fully demilitarize within 30 days, British troops invade Zululand in three columns from the southern African republic of Natal, under the leadership of Lord Chelmsford. Thus begins the Anglo-Zulu War. In 1843, Britain succeeded the Boers as the rulers of Natal, which controlled Zululand, the neighboring […]

1:56m read

1908

Theodore Roosevelt makes Grand Canyon a national monument

U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt declares the massive Grand Canyon in northwestern Arizona a national monument.

2:10m read

1922

First human receives insulin injection to treat diabetes

On January 11, 1922, 14-year-old Leonard Thompson becomes the first person to receive an injection of the hormone insulin for Type-1 diabetes—a disease that for millennia had been considered a death sentence for anyone who developed it. The breakthrough would be one of the most consequential in medical history, saving millions of lives. Diabetes has […]

2:16m read

1927

Charlie Chaplin’s assets frozen in contentious divorce suit

On January 11, 1927, Charlie Chaplin’s $16 million estate is frozen by court receivers after his second wife, Lita Grey Chaplin, sues for divorce. The bitter and prolonged divorce ended a three-year marriage with a $825,000 settlement ($625,000 for her and $200,000 in trust for their two children), a record amount at the time. Lita […]

3:28m read

1935

Amelia Earhart flies from Hawaii to California

In the first flight of its kind, American aviatrix Amelia Earhart departs Wheeler Field in Honolulu, Hawaii, on a solo flight to North America. Hawaiian commercial interests offered a $10,000 award to whoever accomplished the flight first. The next day, after traveling 2,400 miles in 18 hours, she safely landed at Oakland Airport in Oakland, […]

1:28m read

1943

FDR becomes first president to travel by airplane on U.S. official business

On January 11, 1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the first president to travel on official business by airplane. Crossing the Atlantic by air, Roosevelt flew in a Boeing 314 Flying Boat dubbed the Dixie Clipper to a World War II strategy meeting with Winston Churchill at Casablanca in North Africa. With German U-boats taking a […]

1959

A serial killer abducts young family from their car

On January 11, 1959, the Jackson family—Carroll, 29, his wife Mildred, 27, and their two young daughters—are driving along a dirt road in Virginia, returning home from a family visit, when they are forced to stop and are abducted at gunpoint. A few days later, their car is found empty on the side of the […]

2:28m read

1964

U.S. Surgeon General announces definitive link between smoking and cancer

United States Surgeon General Luther Terry, on behalf of the U.S. Government, announces a definitive link between smoking and cancer.

2:04m read

1971

“Silicon Valley” first appears in print

On January 11, 1971, “Silicon Valley” appears for the first time in print in the Electronic News, a popular weekly trade magazine. The article, the first of a three-part series, was written by veteran electronics columnist Don Hoefler and chronicles the rise of the semiconductor industry in Northern California’s Santa Clara Valley. Its headline: “Silicon Valley […]

1:12m read

1973

American League adopts designated hitter rule

On January 11, 1973, the owners of America’s 24 major league baseball teams vote to allow teams in the American League to use a “designated pinch-hitter” who could bat for the pitcher while still allowing the pitcher to stay in the game. The idea of adding a player to the baseball lineup to bat for […]

1:58m read

1989

President Reagan gives his farewell address

After eight years as president of the United States, Ronald Reagan gives his farewell address to the American people. In his speech, President Reagan spoke with particular enthusiasm about the foreign policy achievements of his administration. In his speech, Reagan declared that America “rediscovered” its commitment to world freedom in the 1980s. The United States […]

1:34m read

2010

Miep Gies, who hid Anne Frank, dies at 100

On January 11, 2010, Miep Gies, the last survivor of a small group of people who helped hide a Jewish girl, Anne Frank, and her family from the Nazis during World War II, dies at age 100 in the Netherlands. After the Franks were discovered in 1944 and sent to concentration camps, Gies rescued the […]

3:22m read

2012

Joran van der Sloot pleads guilty to Peru murder

On January 11, 2012, Joran van der Sloot, a longtime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of American teen Natalee Holloway in Aruba, pleads guilty to the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, in Lima, Peru. Flores was killed on May 30, 2010, exactly five years to the day after Holloway went missing while on a high […]

2:48m read

Arts & Entertainment

42 videos

Arts & Entertainment

The True Story of the Real-Life Winnie-the-Pooh

A real-life black bear owned by a Canadian soldier serving in World War I inspired the famous children’s book.

Arts & Entertainment

How ‘Who’s on First?’ Became a Classic Comedy Routine

Abbott and Costello turned a simple baseball misunderstanding into one of the most famous comedy routines of all time.

Arts & Entertainment

Lucille Ball: 6 Surprising Facts About Her Life and Career

The star of ‘I Love Lucy’ was also a pioneering force behind the camera.

About the author

HISTORY.com Editors

HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. Articles with the “HISTORY.com Editors” byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Christian Zapata, Cristiana Lombardo and Adrienne Donica.

Fact Check

We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.