A Bench By The Road

"There is no place you or I can go, to think about or not think about, to summon the presences of, or recollect the absences of slaves; nothing that reminds us of the ones who made the journey and of those who did not make it. There is no suitable memorial or plaque or wreath or wall or park or skyscraper lobby. There's no 300-foot tower There's no small bench by the road."

• Toni Morrison 1989.

The Bench by the Road Project was launched by the Toni Morrison Society in honor of Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison. This Bench is placed in recognition of the artistic and academic legacy of Margaret Walker on the occasion of her centennial year. Walker played a pivotal role as a poet and novelist during the Black Arts Movement. Her collection of poetry, For My People (1942), won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award, making her the first Black woman to receive a national writing prize. Her novel, Jubilee (1966), based on her grandmother's memories, initiated a genre of neo-slave novels, including Toni Morrison's Beloved (1987), that told the story of slavery from the perspective of the slaves themselves. In 1968, while a member of the faculty at Jackson State College, she founded the Institute for the Study of the History, Life, and Culture of Black People. For her trailblazing work in the arts and in the academy, the Institute was named in her honor in 1979. . This historical marker was erected in 2015 by Margaret Walker Center, Jackson State University. It is in Washington Addition in Jackson in Hinds County Mississippi