Alice Walker: Author, Activist, Women's Rights Activist, Civil Rights Activist (1944–)
By MarySharples
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Walker's own family history inspired her to write the novel
Her ancestors were struggling to regain their dignity after centuries of slavery, poverty and abuse.
Her grandmother was murdered by a man who wanted to be her lover.
She listened to stories about her ancestors and longed to be able to feel close to them. -
Born in Eatonton, Georgia
Like many of Walker's fictional characters, her parents, Willie Lee Walker and Minnie Lou Tallulah Grant, were sharecroppers (tenant farmers who paid a percentage of their crop as rent). She was one of eight children. -
Accident when she was hit in the eye by a B.B. pellet
When she was eight years old, while playing with two of her older brothers, a copper B.B. pellet hit her in the eye. The accident was traumatic and her parents, who were too poor to afford a car, could not take her to a doctor for several days. By that time, her wound was so bad that she had lost the use of her right eye. However, this accident eventually aided her writer's voice, because she withdrew from others and became a meticulous observer of human relationships and interaction. -
Left Eatonton for Spelman College
Walker left Eatonton for Spelman College in Atlanta, on a state scholarship. During the two years she attended Spelman she became active in the civil rights movement. -
Transferred to Sarah Lawrence College, New York
Here she began to work seriously on writing poems, publishing several in a college journal. -
She discovers she is pregnant before starting her senior year
When she returned for her senior year, Walker was shocked to learn that she was pregnant, and, afraid of her parents’ reaction, she considered suicide. However, a classmate helped Walker obtain a safe abortion, and she graduated from Sarah Lawrence in 1965. -
Graduated and moved to Mississippi
After graduation, she moved to Mississippi to teach and continue her social activism. -
Promoted Black Voter Registration
Walker continued her involvement with the civil rights movement after graduation, working as a volunteer on black voter registration drives in Georgia and Mississippi in 1965 and 1966. -
Married Melvyn Leventhal
Through her involvement in civil rights activism, Walker met the New York City-born civil rights lawyer Melvyn Leventhal. In 1967 they became the first legally married interracial couple to live in Mississippi.The two had one daughter, Rebecca, before divorcing in 1976. -
Published her novel The Color Purple
Upon its publication, The Color Purple instigated heated debates about black cultural representation, as a number of male African-American critics complained that the novel reaffirmed old racist stereotypes of black men in particular. Critics also charged Walker with focusing heavily on sexism at the expense of addressing notions of racism in America. Nonetheless, The Color Purple also had supporters, especially among black women and others who praised the novel as a feminist fable. -
She is a "Womanist"
Walker coined the term "Womanist" to describe her philosophical stance on the issue of gender. As a Womanist, which is different from a feminist, she sees herself as someone who appreciates women's culture, emotions, and character. Her work often reflects this stance, as well as the universality of human experience. Walker's central characters are almost always black women.
(from The Poetry Foundation) -
The Color Purple won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
and also the National Book Award for Fiction. She is the first African American woman to win either award. -
Steven Spielberg directed The Color Purple
It starred Whoopi Goldberg as Celie, as well as Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. Like the novel, the movie was a critical success, receiving 11 Academy Award nominations.
