Alice Walker at Sarah Lawrence, Alice wrote the explored more deeply the racism
Writer, poet (1944-) poems that would be included in and sexism affecting black women.
her first collection, Once. Also,
One of the leading voices in during college Alice became more In 1982 Alice published her most
contemporary American literature, politically aware and active, famous work, The Color Purple
Alice Walker, has written poetry, participating in numerous marches that won both the Pulitzer Prize
novels, short stories, essays and and rallies in support of the Civil and the National Book Award. As
literary criticisms. She began her Rights Movement. Political well as these two prizes, she has
life on February 9, 1944 in activism remains an important part also received the Lillian Smith
Eatonton, Georgia as the eighth and of her character to this day. Award, the Rosenthal Award, a
last child of sharecroppers, Lee and Guggenheim Fellowship, the
Minnie Lou Grant Walker. Both her Upon graduation, Alice spent a
Townsend Prize, Lyndhurst Prize
parents were storytellers, and Alice short period of time in New York,
and a Merrill Fellowship
particularly remembers her mother but felt compelled to return to the
as “a walking history of [her] South. She worked for a time Though her novels often portray
community.” An accident at the age registering voters in Atlanta and black characters and the struggles
of eight left her partially blind in spent time exploring the South she and obstacles they face, Alice
one eye, and even though it was came from. In 1969, Alice had a Walker’s works transcend race
somewhat corrected when she was daughter Rebecca. and gender and speak to the larger
fourteen, the accident’s effects were human condition.
The Third Life of Grange Copeland,
lasting. As an outcast, Alice began Alice’s first novel, was completed in Some thoughts from Alice Walker:
to see the world around her and the 1967 with the assistance of a
people so deeply involved in it. Her McDowell Fellowship, but was not “Abortion, for many women, is
retreat into solitude included published until 1970. Though some more than an experience of
extensive reading and she also critics condemn the way black men suffering beyond anything most
began to write stories. are portrayed in the novel, no men will ever know, it is an act of
Alice graduated as valedictorian of reader can deny the power and mercy, and an act of self-defense.”
her class, and with a “rehabilitation emotion conveyed through Walk- - Alice Walker, “White Man
scholarship” attended Spelman er’s brutally honest style. Say to the Black Woman?” Her
College in Atlanta eventually Blue Body Everything We
transferring to Sarah Lawrence in In Love and Trouble and You Can’t Know (1991), The Right to Life
New York. During her senior year Keep a Good Woman Down
Whole Woman’s Health of Austin
8401 N. IH 35, Ste. 200 * Austin, TX 78753
(512) 250-1005
www.wholewomanshealth.com
“Deliver me from writers who say Alice Walker’s works include: Whole Woman’s Health
the way they live doesn’t matter. I’m The Color Purple Women’s History Project
not sure a bad person can write a Her Blue Body Everything We
Alice
good book. If art doesn’t make us Know
better, then what on earth is it for?” Meridian
- Alice Walker, in Evelyn L. The Temple of My Familiar
Beilenson and Ann Possessing the Secret of Joy
Walker
Tennenbaum, eds., Wit and In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens
Wisdom of Famous In Love and Trouble
American Women (1986) Revolutionary Petunias and Other
Poems
“Nobody is as powerful as we make The Third Life of Grange Copeland Writer, Poet
them out to be.” Once: Poems (1944-)
- Alice Walker, In Search of You Can’t Keep a Good Woman
Our Mothers’ Gardens Down
(1983) The Same River Twice
By the Light of My Father’s Smile
“She say, Celie, tell the truth, have
you ever found God in church? I
never did. I just found a bunch of
folks hoping for him to show. Any
God I ever felt in church I brought
in with me. And I think all the other
folks did too. They come to church
to share God, not find God.”
- Alice Walker, The Color
Purple (1982)
“Yes, Mother…I can see you are
flawed. You have not hidden
it. That is your greatest gift to
me.”
Whole Woman’s Health of Austin
8401 N. IH 35, Ste. 200 * Austin, TX 78753
(512) 250-1005
www.wholewomanshealth.com