Bench by the Road Memorial

Bench by the Road Memorial

The Toni Morrison Society launched the "Bench by the Side of the Road" project in 2006, on the occasion of novelist Toni Morrison's 75th birthday. The society places benches at sites important to African American history. The project developed in response to an interview Toni Morrison gave in 1989, shortly after the publication of her novel Beloved. In that interview, she said, “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. 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." The first bench was place in 2008 on Sullivan Island, South Carolina. Oberlin is home to the second bench. It honors the memory of enslaved people who sought refuge in the community of Oberlin.

2009