Career History
In Search of our Mother’s Garden: Womanist Prose
This nonfiction book by Alice Walker touches on her life as a black mother, writer, woman, and feminist. The reader will gain insight of what it was like for Alice growing up in the south and wanting to be a writer. They will also hear accounts of the civil right’s movement and the antinuclear movement. Alice also includes essays that focus on the work of other writers.
In 1983 Alice Walker became the first black woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for the novel The Color Purple.
Peace & Justice Guru
Biography
Alice Walker was born in Eatonton, Georgia in 1944, she is one of the 8 children of Willie Walker and Minnie Grant. Alice’s parents worked as sharecroppers in their farming town. At eight years old Alice sustained an eye injury that caused her to go blind in one eye, during the time of recovery she grew fond of reading and writing. In 1961 Walker attended Spelman College, after two years she transferred to Sarah Lawrence College, during that time Walker dealt with many painful events. She then wrote about those events in her first collection of poetry “Once”. Walker is most famous for her book “The Color Purple” and coining the term “womanist”. Alice Walker is now 77 years old, she is still an avid writer who posts frequently on her blog.
Why is she a Peace and Justice Guru?
Alice Walker is a Peace and Justice guru because she has gone and continues to go out of her way to address issues of racial inequality, gender, social, and class oppression. Her work, The Color Purple, despite being written 1982 continues to be a tool for understanding racial and gender inequality. Alice Walker not only addresses issues in the United States but she is passionate about issues relating to the Isareli-Palestinian conflict and antisemitism.
Poems & Books
This story written by Alice Walker follows the journey of two sisters living on opposite sides of the world. Celie the narrator of the book endures years of abuse and neglect from family, at the age of 14 she is forced into an abusive marriage. Celie, despite all of the obstacles placed in her way, is able to reach success in life through her tailoring business. Nettie, her younger sister at a young age flees to Africa for missionary work, causing Celie to assume she is dead. While on her journey Nettie discovers the truth about her family. In the end, the sisters are reconnected and able to enjoy life.
Anything We Love Can be Saved: A Writer’s Activism
In this book written by Alice Walker she addresses topics like race, feminism, religion, and identity. Alice gives the audience insight as to what motivates her activism and the social changes she would like to see in our world. This book emphasizes the idea that the world is “save-able” but it is up to us to save it.
In this poem, Alice Walker encompasses the concept of loving thy neighbor--even though we are all different we should love each other because we make up this world.
