This week we honor the enduring impact of Frederick Douglass, whose birthday on February 14 helped inspire the creation of Black History Month itself. We also celebrate Toni Morrison, the first Black woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, whose storytelling illuminated the Black experience with unmatched depth.

From Douglass’s fight for abolition and civil rights to Morrison’s literary revolution, this week reminds us that Black excellence in letters and liberation has always been intertwined—and that Black women have been at the forefront of both.

Frederick Douglass: The North Star of Freedom

Frederick Douglass was not just an abolitionist; he was a statesman who understood the power of the written word and the necessity of political action. His escaped enslavement to become the most photographed American of the 19th century and a counselor to presidents. His legacy teaches us that freedom must be fought for in every generation.

Toni Morrison: The Voice of a Generation

Toni Morrison unrestricted the American literary canon. With novels like Beloved, Song of Solomon, and The Bluest Eye, she centered Black life and Black women's interiority in a way that had never been done before. As the first Black woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, she declared, "We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives."