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Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker (born February 9, 1944) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which she was awarded for her novel '' The Color Purple''."National Book Awards – 1983"
National Book Foundation. Retrieved March 15, 2012. (With essays by Anna Clark and Tarayi Jones from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.)
Over the span of her career, Walker has published seventeen novels and short story collections, twelve non-fiction works, and collections of essays and poetry. Walker, born in rural Georgia, overcame challenges such as childhood injury and segregation to become high school valedictorian and graduate from Sarah Lawrence College. She began her writing career with her first book of poetry, ''Once'', and later wrote novels, including her best-known work, ''The Color Purple''. As an activist, Walker participated in the Civil Rights Movement, advocated for women of color through the term " womanism," and has been involved in animal advocacy and pacifism. Additionally, she has taken a strong stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel. Walker has faced multiple accusations of
antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
due to her praise for British conspiracy theorist David Icke and his works, which contain antisemitic conspiracy theories, along with criticisms of her own writings.


Early life and education

Alice Malsenior Walker was born in Eatonton, Georgia, a rural farming town, to Willie Lee Walker and Minnie Tallulah Grant. Both of Walker's parents were sharecroppers, though her mother also worked as a seamstress to earn extra money. Walker, the youngest of eight children, was first enrolled in school when she was just four years old at East Putnam Consolidated. As an eight-year-old, Walker sustained an injury to her right eye after one of her brothers fired a BB gun. Since her family did not have access to a car, Walker could not receive immediate medical attention, causing her to become permanently blind in that eye. It was after the injury to her eye that Walker began to take up reading and writing. The scar tissue was removed when Walker was 14, but a mark still remains. It is described in her essay "Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self".''World Authors 1995–2000'', 2003. Biography Reference Bank database. Retrieved April 10, 2009. As the schools in Eatonton were segregated, Walker attended the only high school available to Black students: Butler Baker High School. There, she went on to become
valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...
, and enrolled in
Spelman College Spelman College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia ...
in 1961 after being granted a full scholarship by the state of
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
for having the highest academic achievements of her class. She found two of her professors, Howard Zinn and Staughton Lynd, to be great mentors during her time at Spelman, but both were transferred two years later. Walker was offered another scholarship, this time from Sarah Lawrence College in
Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...
, and after the firing of her Spelman professor, Howard Zinn, Walker accepted the offer. Walker became pregnant at the start of her senior year and had an abortion; this experience, as well as the bout of suicidal thoughts that followed, inspired much of the poetry found in ''Once'', Walker's first collection of poetry. Walker graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1965.


Writing career

Walker wrote the poems that would culminate in her first book of poetry, entitled ''Once'', while she was a student in
East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...
and during her senior year at Sarah Lawrence College. Walker would slip her poetry under the office door of her professor and mentor, Muriel Rukeyser, when she was a student at Sarah Lawrence. Rukeyser then showed the poems to her literary agent. ''Once'' was published four years later by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Following graduation, Walker briefly worked for the New York City Department of Welfare, before returning to the South. She took a job working for the Legal Defense Fund of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...
in
Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...
. Walker also worked as a consultant in Black history to the Friends of the Children of Mississippi Head Start program. She later returned to writing as writer-in-residence at Jackson State University (1968–69) and Tougaloo College (1970–71). In addition to her work at Tougaloo College, Walker published her first novel, '' The Third Life of Grange Copeland,'' in 1970. The novel explores the life of Grange Copeland, an abusive, irresponsible sharecropper, husband and father. In 1973, before becoming editor of '' Ms.'' magazine, Walker and literary scholar Charlotte D. Hunt discovered an unmarked grave they believed to be that of Zora Neale Hurston in Ft. Pierce, Florida. Walker had it marked with a gray marker stating ZORA NEALE HURSTON / ''A GENIUS OF THE SOUTH'' / NOVELIST FOLKLORIST / ANTHROPOLOGIST / 1901–1960. The line "a genius of the south" is from Jean Toomer's poem ''Georgia Dusk'', which appears in his book '' Cane''. Hurston was actually born in 1891, not 1901. Walker's 1975 article
In Search of Zora Neale Hurston
, published in ''Ms.'' magazine and later retitled "Looking for Zora", helped revive interest in the work of this Afro-American writer and anthropologist. In 1976, Walker's second novel, '' Meridian,'' was published. ''Meridian'' is a novel about activist workers in the South, during the civil rights movement, with events that closely parallel some of Walker's own experiences. In 1982, she published what has become her best-known work, '' The Color Purple''. The novel follows a young, troubled Black woman who is not just fighting her way through a
racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
white culture, she is also fighting her way through a patriarchal Black culture. The book became a bestseller, and it was subsequently adapted into a critically acclaimed 1985 movie which was directed by Steven Spielberg, starring
Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...
and Whoopi Goldberg, as well as a 2005 Broadway
musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...
totaling 910 performances. Walker has written several other novels, including '' The Temple of My Familiar'' (1989) and '' Possessing the Secret of Joy'' (1992) (which featured several characters and descendants of characters from ''The Color Purple''). She has published a number of collections of short stories, poetry, and other writings. Her work is focused on the struggles of
Black people Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical ...
, particularly women, and their lives in a racist, sexist, and violent society. In 1993, Alice Walker coauthored a novel, '' Warrior Marks,'' alongside feminist activist, Pratibha Parmar. The novel was based on the topic of ''
Female Genital Mutilation Female genital mutilation (FGM) (also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision) is the cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva for non-medical reasons. Prevalence of female ge ...
'' (FGM) and the Sexual Blinding of Women. The novel takes place in Africa, where the two of them collectively interview several survivors of FGM. The novel seeks to unearth the sociocultural rationale behind the practice by providing a platform to activists who stand in opposition to this issue. In 2000, Walker released a collection of short fiction, based on her own life, called ''The Way Forward Is With a Broken Heart,'' exploring love and race relations. In this book, Walker details her interracial relationship with Melvyn Rosenman Leventhal, a civil rights attorney who was also working in
Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...
. The couple married on March 17, 1967, in New York City, since interracial marriage was then illegal in the South, and divorced in 1976. They had a daughter, Rebecca, together in 1969.
Rebecca Walker Rebecca Walker (born Rebecca Leventhal; November 17, 1969) is an American writer, feminist, and activist. Walker has been regarded as one of the prominent voices of Third Wave Feminism, and the coiner of the term "third wave", since publishing ...
, Alice Walker's only child, is an American novelist, editor, artist, and activist. The Third Wave Foundation, an activist fund, was co-founded by Rebecca and
Shannon Liss-Riordan Shannon Liss-Riordan (''née'' Liss; born 1969) is an American labor attorney. She is best known for her class-action cases against companies such as Uber, FedEx, and Starbucks. Liss-Riordan was a candidate in the 2020 United States Senate electi ...
. Her godmother is Alice Walker's mentor and co-founder of ''Ms.'' magazine,
Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem ( ; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social movement, social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ...
. In 2007, Walker donated her papers, consisting of 122 boxes of manuscripts and archive material, to
Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...
's Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library. In addition to drafts of novels such as ''The Color Purple'', unpublished poems and manuscripts, and correspondence with editors, the collection includes extensive correspondence with family members, friends and colleagues, early treatment of the film script for '' The Color Purple'', syllabi from courses she taught, and fan mail. The collection also contains a scrapbook of poetry compiled when Walker was 15, entitled "Poems of a Childhood Poetess". In 2013, Alice Walker published two new books, one of them entitled ''The Cushion in the Road: Meditation and Wandering as the Whole World Awakens to Being in Harm's Way''. The other was a book of poems entitled ''The World Will Follow Joy: Turning Madness into Flowers (New Poems)''.


Activism


Civil rights

Walker met Martin Luther King Jr. when she was a student at
Spelman College Spelman College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia ...
in the early 1960s. She credits King for her decision to return to the American South as an activist in the Civil Rights Movement. She took part in the 1963 March on Washington with hundreds of thousands of people. Later, she volunteered to register Black voters in Georgia and Mississippi. On March 8, 2003, International Women's Day, on the eve of the
Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...
, Walker was arrested with 26 others, including fellow authors Maxine Hong Kingston and Terry Tempest Williams, at a protest outside the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
, for crossing a police line during an anti-war rally. Walker wrote about the experience in her essay "We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For".


Womanism

Walker's specific brand of
feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
included advocacy on behalf of women of color. In 1983, Walker coined the term '' womanist'' in her collection '' In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens'', to mean "a Black feminist or feminist of color". The term was made to unite women of color and the feminist movement at "the intersection of race, class, and gender oppression". Walker states that "'Womanism' gives us a word of our own". because it is a discourse of Black women and the issues they confront in society. Womanism as a movement came into fruition in 1985 at the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature to address Black women's concerns from their own intellectual, physical, and spiritual perspectives." Today, her womanist ideology still persists within several movements including the
Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...
Movement that was formed by Black women in response to overwhelming police brutality against Black males. The philosophy of womanism also served as the fundamental basis for the #MeToo Movement in which women publicly expressed their experiences of sexual abuse and harassment.


Feminist advocacy

Walker's idea of feminist advocacy emerged in her work, '' In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens'', specifically in the essay, '' If the Present Looked Like the Past, what would the future Look Like?''. In her piece, she reflects on the modern injustices and historical oppression of the feminist movement. She also touches upon the need for compassion, empathy and awareness on behalf of Black women to overcome the past atrocities such as slavery and colonialism. In the end, the essay provides both a critique on the Black feminist movement and a call to action for readers to liberate themselves from discrimination.


Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Walker is a judge member of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, and she also supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel. In January 2009, Walker was one of over fifty signatories of a letter protesting against the
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...
's "City to City" spotlight on Israeli filmmakers, and condemning Israel as an "
apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English:  , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
regime". Two months later, Walker and sixty other female activists from the anti-war group Code Pink traveled to Gaza in response to the Gaza War. Their purpose was to deliver aid, meet with NGOs and residents, and persuade Israel and Egypt to open their borders with Gaza. She planned to visit Gaza again in December 2009 to participate in the Gaza Freedom March. On June 23, 2011, she announced plans to participate in an aid flotilla to Gaza that attempted to break Israel's naval blockade. In May 2013, Walker posted an open letter to singer
Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs at the age of 12 and was signed by Columbia Records at 15. After d ...
, asking her to cancel a planned concert in
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
. "I believe we are mutually respectful of each other's path and work," Walker wrote. "It would grieve me to know you are putting yourself in danger (soul danger) by performing in an apartheid country that is being boycotted by many global conscious artists." Keys rejected the plea. Walker has refused to allow '' The Color Purple'' to be translated and published in Hebrew, saying that she finds that "Israel is guilty of apartheid and persecution of the Palestinian people, both inside Israel and also in the Occupied Territories" and noting that she had refused to allow Steven Spielberg's film adaptation of her novel to be shown in South Africa until the system of
apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English:  , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
was dismantled.


Support for Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange

In June 2013, Walker and others appeared in a video expressing their support for
Chelsea Manning Chelsea Elizabeth Manning (born Bradley Edward Manning, December 17, 1987) is an American activist and whistleblower. She is a former United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage ...
, an American soldier who was imprisoned for releasing
classified information Classified information is confidential material that a government deems to be sensitive information which must be protected from unauthorized disclosure that requires special handling and dissemination controls. Access is restricted by law or ...
. In recent years, Walker has spoken out repeatedly in support of
Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. He came to international attention in 2010 after WikiLeaks published a series of News leak, leaks from Chels ...
. Founder of Wikileaks, Assange was considered a large threat to U.S. national security during the Obama administration, as he revealed classified intelligence information surrounding war crimes and human rights violations in
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
,
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
, and Guantanamo Bay. Subsequently, Assange was arrested after attempting to seek refuge in the Ecuador embassy in London. He was later extradited to the U.S. and prosecuted on criminal charges. In light of these developments, Alice Walker published an Opinion Editorial taking aim at the US justice system and calling for the vindication of the charges brought against Assange. Moreover, Walker also took part in a panel discussion in Berkeley, California for the purpose of freeing Assange.


Animal advocacy

Walker has expressed that animal advocacy is one of her central concerns. Her fiction has increasingly embraced animal ethics over the past four decades, as she works to include animals as both active participants in her novels and as symbols for what she has called "consciousness." Her earliest fiction represents nonhuman animals inasmuch as they are part of human life – namely as farmed animals, food sources, and absent referents for animalized
epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...
s directed at humans, and her fiction increasingly incorporates the animal experience. She has advocated for greater consciousness in human beings and their relationships with animals, stating: "Encouraging others to love nature, to respect other human beings and animals, to adore this earth, is part of my work in this world."


Pacifism

Walker has been a longtime sponsor of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. In early 2015, she wrote: "So I think of any movement for peace and justice as something that is about stabilizing our inner spirit so that we can go on and bring into the world a vision that is much more humane than the one we have dominant today." She has written several works that convey her pacifist views, those including ''The Same River Twice'' and ''We are the Ones We have been Waiting for: Inner Light in a Time of Darkness.'' She discusses the importance for establishing an equitable and peaceful society.


Transgender rights

In 2023, Walker publicly defended J. K. Rowling from criticisms of her views regarding trans people. Walker wrote on her website: "I consider J.K. Rowling perfectly within her rights as a human being of obvious caring for humanity to express her views about whatever is of concern to her. As she has done." She herself expressed the view that women were being "erased" in language, dictionaries and society, and that "confusion" with respect to gender had led to hasty sex reassignment surgeries, at least when minors were concerned. Walker was criticized on social media for taking this position with many referring to her as a TERF. In a subsequent essay, Walker addressed trans people, stating: "I fully understand that your life belongs to you; therefore whatever changes you make, I offer my prayers for a beautiful transformation and complete recovery", and acknowledged that one of the "most loving and balanced people" she knew was a trans man.


Accusations of antisemitism and praise for David Icke

Since 2012, Walker has expressed appreciation for the works of the British conspiracy theorist David Icke. On
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
's '' Desert Island Discs'', she said that Icke's book ''Human Race Get Off Your Knees: The Lion Sleeps No More'', which contains antisemitic conspiracy theories, would be the book she would take to a desert island. The book promotes the theory that the Earth is ruled by
shapeshifting In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shapeshifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through unnatural means. The idea of shapeshifting is found in the oldest forms of totemism and shamanism, as well as the oldest existen ...
reptilian humanoids and "Rothschild Zionists". Jonathan Kay of the ''
National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only.
'' described this book (and Icke's other books) as "hateful, hallucinogenic nonsense". Kay wrote that Walker's public praise for Icke's book was "stunningly offensive" and that by taking it seriously, she was disqualifying herself "from the mainstream marketplace of ideas". In 2013, the Anti-Defamation League called anti-Zionist essays in Walker's book ''The Cushion in the Road'' "replete with fervently anti-Jewish ideas" and it also stated that Walker was "unabashedly infected with anti-Semitism". On her blog in 2017, Walker published a poem which she titled "It Is Our (Frightful) Duty to Study The
Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...
", recommending that the reader should start with
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
to learn about the allegedly shocking aspects of the Talmud, describing it as "poison". The poem contained antisemitic tropes and arguments. In it, she also "describes her reaction when a Jewish friend", later stated to be her ex-husband, accused her "of appearing to be antisemitic". In 2018, an interviewer from '' The New York Times Book Review'' asked Walker "What books are on your nightstand?" She listed Icke's ''And the Truth Shall Set You Free,'' a book promoting an antisemitic
conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...
which draws on ''
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated text purporting to detail a Jewish plot for global domination. Largely plagiarized from several earlier sources, it was first published in Imperial Russia in 1903, translated into multip ...
'' and questions the Holocaust. Walker said: "In Icke's books there is the whole of existence, on this planet and several others, to think about. A curious person's dream come true." The publication of the interview in the "By the Book" weekly column generated significant criticism of Walker and the ''New York Times Book Review''. The ''Review'' was criticized for publishing the interview as well as for failing to contextualize ''And the Truth Shall Set You Free'' as an antisemitic work. Walker defended her admiration for Icke and his book, saying: "I do not believe he is anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish". Walker argued that any "attempt to smear David Icke, and by association, me, is really an effort to dampen the effect of our speaking out in support of the people of Palestine". Following the controversy Roxane Gay argued that "Alice Walker has been anti-Semitic for years". The NYT released a statement that the contents of the interview "do not imply an endorsement by Times editors". In 2019, Ayanna Pressley disavowed antisemitism after an uproar ensued following her tweeting of an Alice Walker quote. She tweeted "I fully condemn and denounce anti-Semitism, prejudice and bigotry in all their forms – and the hateful actions they embolden" and said she had been unaware of Walker's statements on the issue. In 2020, after learning about Walker's perceived support of anti-Semitism, the host of the ''New York Times'' podcast ''Sugar Calling'' described herself as "mortified" for having hosted Walker on her show and she also said: "If I'd known, I wouldn't have asked Alice Walker to be on the show." In April 2022, Gayle King of CBS News was criticized for interviewing Walker without challenging her anti-Semitic writings. After the interview, King released a statement, saying: "These are not only legitimate questions, they are mandatory questions. I certainly would have asked her about the criticisms, if I had been aware of them before the interview with Ms. Walker." In 2022, Walker was disinvited from the Bay Area Book Festival due to what the organizers referred to as her "endorsement of anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist David Icke". An invitation for Walker to speak at San Diego Community College District was upheld despite opposition from community groups with the organizers citing their belief in free speech. Walker dismissed the criticism as "a ploy to shut down my webpage blog: alicewalkersgarden.com."


Personal life

In 1965, Walker met Melvyn Rosenman Leventhal, a Jewish civil rights lawyer. They were married on March 17, 1967, in New York City. Later that year, the couple relocated to
Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...
, becoming the first legally married interracial couple in Mississippi since miscegenation laws were introduced in the state. The couple had a daughter,
Rebecca Rebecca () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical tradition, Rebecca's father was Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, also called Aram-Naharaim. Rebecca's brother was Laban (Bi ...
, in 1969. Walker and her husband divorced in 1976. In the late 1970s, Walker moved to
northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...
. In 1984, she and fellow writer Robert L. Allen co-founded Wild Tree Press, a feminist publishing company in Anderson Valley, California. Walker legally added "Tallulah Kate" to her name in 1994 to honor her mother, Minnie Tallulah Grant, and paternal grandmother, Tallulah. Minnie Tallulah Grant's grandmother, Tallulah, was
Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...
. Walker has claimed that she was in a romantic relationship with singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman in the mid-1990s: "It was delicious and lovely and wonderful and I totally enjoyed it and I was completely in love with her but it was not anybody's business but ours." Chapman has not publicly commented on the existence of a relationship between herself and Walker and maintains a strict separation between her private and public life. Walker's
spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...
has influenced some of her best-known novels, including '' The Color Purple.'' She has written of her interest in Transcendental Meditation. Walker's exploration of religion in much of her writing draws on a literary tradition that includes writers like Zora Neale Hurston. Walker has never denied that there are some autobiographical dimensions to her stories. When "Advancing Luna—and Ida B. Wells" was first published in ''Ms.'' magazine, Walker included a disclaimer that "Luna and Freddie Pye are composite characters, and their names are made up. This is a fictionalized account suggested by a number of real events". John O' Brien's 1973 interview with Walker offers further details.


Teaching and Feminist Rights Movement

Aside from her civil rights activism, Walker would often educate others about the Black feminist movement through her teachings at several different higher education institutions. In the fall of 1972, Walker taught a course in Black Women's Writers at the
University of Massachusetts Boston The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a Public university, public US-based research university. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Ma ...
. as well as Wellesley College in 1973. Moreover, that same year, she also published her primary collection of short stories ''In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women,'' as well as ''Revolutionary Petunias and Other Poems'' which served as a second volume of her poetry. In addition, she also taught an American Women studies class at
Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...
in Waltham. Aside from the schools in Massachusetts at which she taught at, she gave several lectures on the topics of African-American Women Studies at
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
as well as
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
. Overall, Walker gave several lectures at a variety of different institutions throughout America which allowed her to spread the ideas of the Black feminist movement.


Representation in other media

'' Beauty in Truth'' (2013) is a documentary film about Walker directed by Pratibha Parmar. ''Phalia (Portrait of Alice Walker)'' (1989) is a photograph by Maud Sulter from her ''Zabat'' series originally produced for the Rochdale Art Gallery in England.


Awards and honors

* MacDowell Colony Fellowships (1967 and 1974) * Ingram Merrill Foundation Fellowship (1967) * Candace Award, Arts and Letters, National Coalition of 100 Black Women (1982) * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1983) for '' The Color Purple''"Fiction"
''Past winners and finalists by category''. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
* National Book Award for Fiction (1983) for ''The Color Purple''From 1980 to 1983, there were dual hardcover and paperback awards of the National Book Award for Fiction. Walker won the award for hardcover fiction. * O. Henry Award for "Kindred Spirits" (1985) * Langston Hughes Medal, (1988),
City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...
* Honorary degree from the
California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a Private university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...
(1995) * American Humanist Association named her as "Humanist of the Year" (1997) * Lillian Smith Award from the National Endowment for the Arts * Rosenthal Award from the National Institute of Arts & Letters * Radcliffe Institute Fellowship, the Merrill Fellowship, and a
Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...
* Front Page Award for Best Magazine Criticism from the Newswoman's Club of New York * Induction into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame (2001) * Induction into the California Hall of Fame in
The California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts The California Museum is the List of U.S. state historical societies and museums, state history museum of the US state of California, located in its capital city of Sacramento and housed within the Secretary of State of California, Secretary of ...
(2006) * Domestic Human Rights Award from Global Exchange (2007) * The LennonOno Grant for Peace (2010) * The Haydée Santamaría medal (2024)


Selected works


Novels and short story collections

* '' The Third Life of Grange Copeland'' (1970) * ''In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women'' (1973, includes " Everyday Use") * '' Meridian'' (1976) * '' The Color Purple'' (1982) * ''You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down: Stories'' (1982) * ''To Hell With Dying'' (1988) * '' The Temple of My Familiar'' (1989) * ''Finding the Green Stone'' (1991) * '' Possessing the Secret of Joy'' (1992) * ''The Complete Stories'' (1994) * ''By the Light of My Father's Smile'' (1998) * ''The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart'' (2000) * ''Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart'' (2004)


Poetry collections

* ''Once'' (1968) * ''Revolutionary Petunias and Other Poems'' (1973) * ''Good Night, Willie Lee, I'll See You in the Morning'' (1979) * ''Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful'' (1985) * ''Her Blue Body Everything We Know: Earthling Poems'' (1991) * ''Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth'' (2003) * ''A Poem Traveled Down My Arm: Poems And Drawings'' (2003) * ''Collected Poems'' (2005) * ''Hard Times Require Furious Dancing: New Poems'' (2010) * ''The World Will Follow Joy'' (2013) * ''Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart'' (2018)


Non-fiction books

* '' In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose'' (1983) * ''Living by the Word: Selected Writings, 1973–1987'' (1988) * '' Warrior Marks: Female Genital Mutilation and the Sexual Blinding of Women'' (with Pratibha Parmar, 1993) * ''The Same River Twice: Honoring the Difficult'' (1996) * ''Anything We Love Can Be Saved: A Writer's Activism'' (1997) * ''Sent By Earth: A Message from the Grandmother Spirit, After the Bombing of the World Trade Center and Pentagon'' (2001) * ''We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For: Inner Light in a Time of Darkness'' (2006) * ''Pema Chödrön and Alice Walker in Conversation: On the Meaning of Suffering and the Mystery of Joy'' (2005) * ''Overcoming Speechlessness: A Poet Encounters the Horror in Rwanda, Eastern Congo, and Palestine/Israel'' (2010) * ''The Chicken Chronicles: Sitting with the Angels Who Have Returned with My Memories: Glorious, Rufus, Gertrude Stein, Splendor, Hortensia, Agnes of God, the Gladyses, & Babe, A Memoir'' (2011) * ''The Cushion in the Road: Meditation and Wandering as the Whole World Awakens to Being in Harm's Way'' (2013)


Essays

* "Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self" (1983)


See also

*
List of animal rights advocates Advocates of animal rights believe that many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as in avoiding suffering—should be afforded ...


References


Notes


Citations


Further reading

* *


External links


Alice Walker's official website

''Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth''
– full video of biography film at PBS.org
Profile
at the Poetry Foundation
Profile
at Poets.org * * * *
''New Georgia Encyclopedia''

Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University
Alice Walker papers, c. 1930–2014 (MSS 1061)

Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University
Letters to John Ferrone, 1976–1990 (MSS 1104)

Kalliope, Archives, Wilson Sharon, 1984, Alice Walker, 6(2), 37–42
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