What Nobel Prize-winning author endorsed Barack Obama for President in early 2008?

What Nobel Prize-winning author endorsed Barack Obama for President in early 2008? Toni Morrison endorsed Barack Obama. She announced her support in January 2008 during the Democratic primary campaign, choosing Obama over Hillary Clinton.

Morrison was already one of the most celebrated American writers of the modern era. Her novels include The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, Beloved, and Jazz. She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, making her endorsement especially notable in literary and political circles.

In a letter to Obama, Morrison emphasized his intelligence, integrity, authenticity, and vision. She also made clear that her support was not based simply on his race. The endorsement was described as her first public endorsement of a presidential candidate, which gave it additional significance.

Obama later honored Morrison with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. He had praised her work for its moral and emotional power, and she remained an important public intellectual until her death in 2019. Her endorsement was for Obama’s 2008 campaign, not his later reelection campaign.