Grad Studies: Exploring Black Fiction After the Civil Rights Movement

PhD candidate Thomas Forrest was selected to receive a Dissertation Completion Fellowship from the Department of English for 2025-2026. Forrest describes his dissertation, “Only Suicide Can Save Us: Exploring Suicide as a Potential Narrative Catalyst for Self-Actualization in Black Women’s Literature from 1970-1990,” as arguing that Black women’s literature in this era “responded to the changing dynamics of the Black community as a result of a Post-Civil Rights Movement America.” Such dynamics included, he says, “intraracial tensions; an explosion in the Black middle class which repositioned the Black community in the larger American society; and a new understanding of the roles of Black women and Black queers within this new communal positioning.” The dissertation focuses on Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon (1977), Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day (1988), and Alice Walker’s The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970) to “explore suicide as a narrative catalyst before a journey toward spiritual wholeness.” Forrest graciously responded to our questions over email. 

What was the genesis of your interest in your dissertation topic?

During my undergraduate studies, I took a Toni Morrison class, and Song of Solomon quickly became my favorite novel. Intrigued by the number of self-inflicted deaths in Morrison’s novels, I read her Master’s thesis, "Virginia Woolf’s and William Faulkner’s Treatment of the Alienated.” As a result, I began to read more novels from Morrison’s era, and I observed the recurrent use of suicide within Black women’s novels. I became interested in possible reasons and motivations that would encourage Black woman authors to deploy suicide in their novels that often revolved around journeys of self-discovery. 

What work are you planning to accomplish during the fellowship?

My dissertation consists of four substantive chapters, and I have completed a draft of my first chapter. I have finished the preliminary reading and planning of the next three chapters. This fellowship will provide me with the time to write these chapters and work with my advisors in the spring semester to complete my dissertation.

Have certain professors here significantly nurtured the project?

Professors Nate Mills and Megan Finch have been instrumental in the development of my dissertation topic. They have provided much needed guidance, feedback, and suggestions of possible research and theories. They have provided me with the tools I need to be precise in my research and in my explanation of my theoretical intervention.

You've taught multiple classes during your studies here. How has teaching enhanced your scholarship?

My students often have big ideas, and they are excited to share these ideas with me as a reader. However, I often must remind them to start at the beginning. I remind them that if they do not share their reasoning for their ideas and their thesis, and develop their thesis in a coherent and logical manner, then the reader will be lost and forced to make assumptions about their meaning, reasoning, and conclusion. It reminds me to provide my audience with all the information necessary to help them follow the progression of my ideas in a sensible way.

What have you appreciated most about your studies here at the U?

Learning from the various professors for whom I have been a teaching assistant. Each professor has a different field of expertise, teaching style, and philosophy for teaching. It has provided me with options for how I want to structure my teaching for the benefit of my students. I have also appreciated my advisors, who have guided me through the process of developing and writing my dissertation. I have learned a lot about how to be a better instructor and researcher because of the professors here at the U.

What has been your favorite discovery, living in the Twin Cities?

Minnehaha Falls is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited, and the Mall of America is a great tourist attraction for when my family and friends visit. My grandmother was wowed by how big the mall is, and my nephew enjoyed the Nickelodeon Universe theme park. Those two attractions provide for fun, multigenerational activities for the family.