Alice Walker

1
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.

2
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 accidentthereby absolving my
  brothers of any blame.

3
Education

• With three magic gifts from her mother in
  handa typewriter, a sewing machine, and a
  suitcaseWalker 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, Walkers commitment to becoming a
  writer was nurtured.

4
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.

5
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.

6
Genres

• Walker writes in multiple genres novels, poetry,
  short stories and non-ficton.
• Her fiction focuses on the struggles on
  African-Americans, 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
  Societyhttp//www.jamesweldonjohnson.emory.edu/al
  icewalker.htm