with her words. the great singer songwriter roseanne cash said toni morrison is a goddess and said, quote, i wish i had written one sentence as good as any of hers. toni morrison died here in new york last night at the age of 88, and tonight our own rehema ellis has a look back at her extraordinary life and her life's work. >> reporter: from the start, toni morrison was exceptional. she remembers being the only black child in the first grade and the only one who could read. she went on to write classics illuminating the black experience, including "song of solomon". >> we not only survived, we produced something so valuable, so irreplaceable, and that's what's worth celebrating. >> reporter: born chloe wafford in 1931 in ohio, she studied english at howard university where she picked up the nickname toni. a divorced single mother, she wrote her first novel in 1970