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English Literature Author: Alice Walker
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by Erik Bledsoe
East Tennessee State University
Johnson City, Tennessee
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More About Alice Walker...
Alice Walker
1944-
American
Introduction
Major Works
Chronology
Introduction
Through her novels, essays, poetry, and activism, Alice Walker has become one of the most prominent black women writers of the second half of the twentieth century. Although her first published book was a collection of poetry (Once, 1968) and she has since published several other poetry collections, she is best known for her fiction and essays. Her first three novels all are set in the South where she was born and among other issues explore the sometimes problematic relationship between African-Americans and the region. More recently the scope of her fiction has expanded, exploring in particular the spiritual connections between Africa and its people throughout the world. All of her work evidences her concerns with justice and the lives of women and spirituality. In recent years, her work has evidenced a growing concern with environmental issues. She has commented that in her work she seeks a unity of moral, social, and aesthetic purpose.
A lifelong activist, Walker worked in voter registration in the South in the 1960s and continues to promote a variety of women's issues. In particular, in the 1980s and 1990s she worked to promote awareness of the continued practice of female genital mutilation. Often finding herself alienated from traditional feminists because of their failure to consider the implications of race, Walker coined the term womanist to describe black feminists. For many years, Walker has worked to promote the works of other black women writers. In particular, she should be given much of the credit for the rediscovery of Zora Neale Hurston, having edited an anthology when most of Hurston's works were out of print. She even placed a tombstone on the author's unmarked grave.
Walker came to mass popular attention with the publication of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple in 1982, which was made into a hit movie by Stephen Spielberg in 1985. Walker has used her visibility to promote a variety of social and political causes, ranging from efforts to focus world attention upon the practice of female circumcision to calling for an end to the United States embargo against Cuba. In the spring of 2003 she was arrested at an antiwar protest outside the White House, where she and others had gathered to state opposition to the impending war on Iraq. In recent years, writing has become a secondary concern for Walker. Writing in the preface to her 2003 collection of poetry, Walker says she was surprised by the emergence of the poems (following the terrorist attacks of September 11) because she had been telling friends for several years that she did not think she would write again, preferring instead to think of herself as "a wandering inspiration," using her fame to inspire others to work toward a better future and present.
Major Works
- The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970)
- The Color Purple (1982)
- In Search of Our Mother's Gardens: Womanist Prose (1983)
- The Temple of My Familiar (1989)
- Everything We Know: Earthling Poems, 1965-1990 Complete (1991)
- Warrior Marks: Female Genital Mutilation and the Sexual Blinding of Women (with Pratibha Parmar, 1993)
- Anything We Love Can Be Saved: A Writer's Activism (1997)
Chronology
1944
Born February 9 in Eatonville, Georgia. She is the eighth and youngest child of sharecroppers.
1952
Walker is blinded in her right eye after being shot by her brother with a BB gun while they were playing cowboys and Indians.
1961
Graduates high school as valedictorian and prom queen; enters Spelman College in Atlanta on a scholarship.
1962
Because of her work in civil rights demonstrations, Walker is invited to attend the Youth World Peace Festival in Helsinki, Finland. Before leaving, she is also invited to the home of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Spends the summer travelling through Europe.
1963
In August, participates in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where she hears Dr. King deliver his "I Have A Dream" speech.
1963
In the fall, wins scholarship to Sarah Lawrence College in New York and transfers.
1964
In the summer, travels to Africa and Europe.
1965
Graduates with B.A. degree from Sarah Lawrence College.
1965
Publishes first short story, "To Hell with Dying."
1965-66
Lives in New York while doing voter registration work in the South during the summers; while working in Mississippi, meets Mel Leventhal, a Jewish law student also active in civil rights movement; returns to New York to live with him. They later marry and move to Mississippi, where he works on civil rights litigation.
1968
Publishes Once, a collection of poetry; teaching at Jackson State University.
1969
Daughter Rebecca born.
1970
Publishes The Third Life of Grange Copeland, her first novel.
1972
Accepts teaching position at Wellesley College.
1973
Publishes In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women (short stories) and Revolutionary Petunias and Other Poems; erects a tombstone on the approximate site of Zora Neale Hurston's grave.
1974
Becomes an editor for Ms. magazine.
1976
Publishes second novel, Meridian; marriage to Leventhal ends; wins a Guggenheim Fellowship.
1979
Publishes Goodnight, Willie Lee, I'll See You in the Morning (poetry); edits I Love Myself When I Am Laughing...And Then Again When I Am Looking Mean and Impressive, a collection of writings by Zora Neale Hurston.
1981
Publishes You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down (stories).
1982
Publishes The Color Purple, which wins the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Literature.
1983
Publishes In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose (essays).
1984
Publishes Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful (poetry).
1985
Steven Spielberg makes a film version of The Color Purple.
1988
Publishes Living By the Word (essays).
1989
Publishes The Temple of My Familiar (novel).
1991
Publishes Her Blue Body Everything We Know: Earthling Poems (poetry).
1991
Publishes Finding the Green Stone (children's book).
1992
Publishes Possessing the Secret of Joy (novel).
1993
Helps produce Warrior Marks: Female Genital Mutilation and the Sexual Blinding of Women, a film documentary by Pratibha Parmar; together they write a companion book called Warrior Marks.
1996
Publishes The Same River Twice: Honoring the Difficult (essays).
1997
Publishes Anything We Love Can Be Saved: A Writer's Activism (essays).
1998
Publishes By the Light of My Father's Smile (novel).
2000
Publishes The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart (stories).
2001
Publishes Sent by Earth: A Message from the Grandmother Spirit After the Bombing of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a short work (50 pages) that is an expanded version of a speech Walker gave shortly after the terrorist attacks of 2001.
2003
Publishes Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth: New Poems (poetry); is arrested in an antiwar protest outside the White House.
Erik Bledsoe received his Ph.D. in English from Vanderbilt University. He is the author of Getting Naked with Harry Crews and has also written for television. Currently he works as a technology development coordinator for East Tennessee State University.
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