The historian John Hope Franklin, the author of "From Slavery to Freedom", and chairman of the presidential race advisory board, says of slavery's impact today in Newsweek of 8th of December 1997:
"It's both a historical fact and a very powerful force that casts a shadow over the present. When you talk about the role of slavery, ask why do people look at me and think I am their servant?... Imagine asking an 82-year-old man to fetch anything for them? Or to serve them, to get their coat or their car ot to call me "boy". That's the shadow that's over this whole thing."
Jesse Jackson said that "America has never come to grips with slavery. It's a hole in the American soul", and felt so much more in the African-Amercan soul. In that sense, Toni Morrison is a survivor who has to live with the memory of slavery.