Toni Morrisson and the translation of history in Margaret Garner

Abstract

This article probes how Toni Morrison translates biographical history in Margaret Garner in relation to Black women's self-determination. Margaret Garner was regarded with both reproach and reverence for murdering her two-year-old daughter to prevent the child from being returned to slavery after they escaped in 1856. Writing the 2005 opera Margaret Garner, Morrison made a number of changes to the historical narrative of the eponymous heroine. The focus of her translation is not on presenting an accurate recountal of history; rather, the goal is to redress the limitations placed on Black women's self-determination by granting them agency through this interpretation of Garner

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