UPDATE 12/21/20: Gov. DeWine signed House Bill (HB) 325 into law today. The bill signing aired live on the Ohio Channel and begins at the 18:33 mark.

UPDATE 12/2/20: HB 325 was passed by the Ohio Senate unanimously and now heads to Gov. Mike DeWine for his signature.

12/1/20 — The OLC testified at the Statehouse today in support of House Bill (HB) 325. Sponsored by State Representatives Stephanie Howse (D-Cleveland) and Joe Miller (D-Amherst), HB 325 would designate Feb. 18 as “Toni Morrison Day” in honor of the Nobel Prize-winning novelist who was born and raised in Lorain, Ohio.

Throughout all of Toni Morrison’s achievements and literary works, she always carried with her the memories of her hometown. She was quoted in a speech at Oberlin College in 1991 saying “In my work, no matter where it’s set — New York, Martinique, wherever — the process, the imaginative process, always starts right here on the lip of Lake Erie.”

Cheri Campbell, Adult Services Librarian with the Lorain Public Library System, testified last year when the bill was first introduced and also provided written proponent testimony this week. A transcript of the OLC’s testimony is available on the OLC website.