Alice Walker is an American author and activist. Her work includes poetry, short stories and novels, most notably “The Color Purple.” She has received both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. As a queer woman of color with a powerful and resonant voice, Walker deserves the spotlight.
From humble beginnings, Walker was born in 1944 in Putnam County, Georgia. Her father and mother worked as a farmer and maid, respectively, under Jim Crow laws. Walker’s father earned a mere $300 per year. Despite the expectation of children of black sharecroppers to work in the fields, Walker’s parents enrolled her in school at a young age. She started writing at eight years old.
After graduating high school as the valedictorian of her class, Walker attended Sarah Lawrence College on a full scholarship. During this time she wrote the poems that would later be published in “Once,” her first book of poetry. She also became interested in civil rights activism, participating in voter registration drives, welfare rights campaigns and children’s programs. She met Martin Luther King Jr. in the 60s and has said he is who inspired her to continue her work as an activist.
In 1967 she married Melvyn Rosenman Leventhal in New York City at a time when interracial marriage was illegal in 16 states. The couple was harassed and threatened by the KKK and others. Walker later had a romantic fling with ”Fast Car” singer Tracy Chapman in the mid-90s. In her own words, Walker describes herself as “open to the spirit of a person, whether that’s a man or woman or whoever, that’s not what’s important to me. What’s important is the spirit.”
Walker is best known for her literary masterpiece “The Color Purple,” published in 1982. The work chronicles a young troubled black woman fighting not only white oppression but patriarchal black culture as well. Walker coined the term “womanism” to describe specifically black feminism. She describes a “womanist” as “a woman who loves other women . . . appreciates and prefers woman culture, woman’s emotional flexibility . . . and women’s strength.”
Alice Walker is a powerful voice for the marginalized and underprivileged as well as a prolific writer. Readers are encouraged to discover her work for themselves.
Caroline Fritz is a third-year student majoring in English with minors in French and linguistics. ✉ CF853302@wcupa.edu.