Alice Walker

Early Life

• Born on February 9, 1944, in Eaton, Georgia
• 8th, and last, child of sharecroppers Willie Lee and Minnie Lou Grant Walker
• She found peace in reading poetry

Fun Fact
When she was 8 years old she was shot in the eye with a BB pellet and became self-conscious about the scar that was left.

Education

• She graduated highschool as valedictorian
• When to Spelman College for two years
• Transferred to Sarah Lawrence College and earned her B.A.

Career

• She published her first short story in 1964
• She wrote novels (fiction and nonfiction), short story collections, childrens books
• She also wrote essays and poems

Civil Rights Movement

• Was very active in Civil Rights Movement
• Inspired many people to protest and fight for their rights

Famous Work

• The Color Purple
• A novel about a young girl named Cecil that is abused by her father and husband
• Later a musical and movie

Awards

• Won the Pultizer Prize in 1983 for "The Color Purple"
• Won National Book Award for "The Color Purple"
• Georgia Writers Hall of Fame
• And Many others

Quote
"If you want to have a life that is worth living, a life that expresses your deepest feelings and emotions and cares and dreams, you have to fight for it."

Themes

• economic hardships
• folk wisdom of african american life and culture
• racial terror
• kingships among women
• power of social and politcal revoution

Citations

• http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/alice_walker.html
• http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/alice-walker/biography-and...

The End