Transcript Alice Walker

Alice Walker
American author and feminist
Born February 1944 in Georgia
The 8th child of sharecroppers.
African-American as well as Cherokee, Scottish and
Irish lineage.
Early life

In 1952 when she was eight years old. Playing cowboys
and Indians with her older brothers Curtis and Bobby,
Curtis accidentally shot Alice in the eye with a BB gun.
To avoid punishment, the brothers concocted a fiction
and pressured their sister to accept it. The physical
result was that Alice lost the sight in her right eye, which
developed a disfiguring white scar. Psychologically, she
grew more introspective, contending with feelings of
sadness, alienation, and betrayal. “An accident became,”
as she recalled, “‘my accident’—thereby absolving my
brothers of any blame.”
Education

With “three magic gifts” from her mother in
hand—a typewriter, a sewing machine, and a
suitcase—Walker enrolled at Spelman College in
Atlanta, Georgia, in 1961, where she quickly
became involved in the civil rights movement.
She developed important friendships with the
historians Howard Zinn and Staughton Lynd.
With the assistance of Lynd, Walker transferred
to Sarah Lawrence College in 1964. At Sarah
Lawrence, Walker’s commitment to becoming a
writer was nurtured.
After graduation
Walker worked for the New York welfare
system and learned about Blacks who
were evicted from their homes for
attempting to register to vote.
 Married a lawyer (whom she later
divorced).
 one daughter, Rebecca Grant born in
1969.

Quotation

I think we have to own the fears that we
have of each other, and then, in some
practical way, some daily way, figure out
how to see people differently than the
way we were brought up to.
Genres
Walker writes in multiple genres; novels, poetry,
short stories and non-ficton.
 Her fiction focuses on the struggles on AfricanAmericans, especially women and their
oppression.
 Pulitzer Prize winner in 1983 for her novel, The
Color Purple. (later made into a movie and play).

Officers of the Alice Walker Literary Society
http://www.jamesweldonjohnson.emory.edu/alicewalker.htm