Alice Walker at Sarah Lawrence, Alice wrote the explored more deeply the racism Writer, poet (1944-) poems that would be included in and sexism affecting black women. her first collection, Once. Also, One of the leading voices in during college Alice became more In 1982 Alice published her most contemporary American literature, politically aware and active, famous work, The Color Purple Alice Walker, has written poetry, participating in numerous marches that won both the Pulitzer Prize novels, short stories, essays and and rallies in support of the Civil and the National Book Award. As literary criticisms. She began her Rights Movement. Political well as these two prizes, she has life on February 9, 1944 in activism remains an important part also received the Lillian Smith Eatonton, Georgia as the eighth and of her character to this day. Award, the Rosenthal Award, a last child of sharecroppers, Lee and Guggenheim Fellowship, the Upon graduation, Alice spent a Minnie Lou Grant Walker. Both her Townsend Prize, Lyndhurst Prize short period of time in New York, parents were storytellers, and Alice and a Merrill Fellowship particularly remembers her mother but felt compelled to return to the as “a walking history of [her] South. She worked for a time Though her novels often portray community.” An accident at the age registering voters in Atlanta and black characters and the struggles of eight left her partially blind in spent time exploring the South she and obstacles they face, Alice one eye, and even though it was came from. In 1969, Alice had a Walker’s works transcend race somewhat corrected when she was daughter Rebecca. and gender and speak to the larger human condition. fourteen, the accident’s effects were The Third Life of Grange Copeland, lasting. As an outcast, Alice began Alice’s first novel, was completed in Some thoughts from Alice Walker: to see the world around her and the 1967 with the assistance of a people so deeply involved in it. Her McDowell Fellowship, but was not “Abortion, for many women, is retreat into solitude included published until 1970. Though some more than an experience of extensive reading and she also critics condemn the way black men suffering beyond anything most began to write stories. are portrayed in the novel, no men will ever know, it is an act of

Alice graduated as valedictorian of reader can deny the power and mercy, and an act of self-defense.” her class, and with a “rehabilitation emotion conveyed through Walk- - Alice Walker, “White Man scholarship” attended Spelman er’s brutally honest style. Say to the Black Woman?” Her College in Atlanta eventually Blue Body Everything We transferring to Sarah Lawrence in In Love and Trouble and You Can’t Know (1991), The Right to Life New York. During her senior year Keep a Good Woman Down Whole Woman’s Health of Austin 8401 N. IH 35, Ste. 200 * Austin, TX 78753 (512) 250-1005 www.wholewomanshealth.com “Deliver me from writers who say Alice Walker’s works include: Whole Woman’s Health the way they live doesn’t matter. I’m The Color Purple Women’s History Project not sure a bad person can write a Her Blue Body Everything We good book. If art doesn’t make us Know better, then what on earth is it for?” Meridian - Alice Walker, in Evelyn L. The Temple of My Familiar Alice Beilenson and Ann Possessing the Secret of Joy Tennenbaum, eds., Wit and In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens Wisdom of Famous In Love and Trouble American Women (1986) Revolutionary Petunias and Other Walker Poems “Nobody is as powerful as we make The Third Life of Grange Copeland Writer, Poet them out to be.” Once: Poems (1944-) - Alice Walker, In Search of You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Our Mothers’ Gardens Down (1983) The Same River Twice By the Light of My Father’s Smile “She say, Celie, tell the truth, have you ever found God in church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for him to show. Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me. And I think all the other folks did too. They come to church to share God, not find God.” - Alice Walker, The Color Purple (1982)

“Yes, Mother…I can see you are flawed. You have not hidden it. That is your greatest gift to me.”

Whole Woman’s Health of Austin 8401 N. IH 35, Ste. 200 * Austin, TX 78753 (512) 250-1005 www.wholewomanshealth.com