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Critically-acclaimed author Toni Morrison (pictured) received the National Book Critics Circle Award for her book Song of Solomon on Jan. 11, 1978.

The National Book Critics Circle Awards (NBCC) are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle to promote “the finest books and reviews published in English.” The first NBCC awards were announced and presented on January 16, 1976.

There are six awards to books published in the U.S. during the preceding calendar year, in six categories: Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, memoir/autobiography, biography, and criticism.

Winning the NBCC award in 1978 brought Morrison national recognition. Her literary works centered on an array of characters set in the African-American experience. Before being honored for Song of Solomon by the NBCC, Morrison had created a name for herself with her books The Bluest Eye (1969) and Sula (1973).

She went on to publish Tar Baby in 1981 and Jazz in 1992.

Morrison, born Chloe Anthony Wofford, graduated from Howard University in 1953 and eventually became a professor of English at Yale University and Barnard College. She was also an editor at Random House. Morrison’s Beloved was adapted as a film and received a Pulitzer Prize in 1987. One of this author’s most recent works is titled. Home.

The story surrounds a young Black man who is a veteran of the Korean War. This book was published in 2012.

Reference: Whaley, N. (2014, January 11) This Day in Black History: Jan. 11, 1978. Retrieved from https://www.bet.com/news/national/2014/01/11/this-day-in-black-history-jan-11-1978.html

*BlackThen.com writer/historian Victor Trammell edited and contributed to this report.