Alice Walker
Alice Walker
Alice Malsenior Walkeris an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and activist. She wrote the critically acclaimed novel The Color Purplefor which she won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She also wrote Meridian and The Third Life of Grange Copeland, among other works...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth9 February 1944
CityEatonton, GA
CountryUnited States of America
father feels frame grew middle mind night obeying south taken terrorism white
I grew up in the South under segregation. So, I know what terrorism feels like - when your father could be taken out in the middle of the night and lynched just because he didn't look like he was in an obeying frame of mind when a white person said something he must do. I mean, that's terrorism, too.
mother strong father
My mother was very strong. Once, she picked up a coconut and smashed it against my father's head. It taught me about women defending themselves and not collapsing in a heap.
father taken night
I grew up in the South [USA states] under segregation. I know what terrorism feels like - when your father could be taken out in the middle of the night and lynched just because he didn't look like he was in an obeying frame of mind when a white person said something he must do. That's terrorism, too.
daughter fathers-day dad
It no longer bothers me that I may be constantly searching for father figures; by this time, I have found several and dearly enjoyed knowing them all.
anywhere people
I think that all people who feel that there is injustice in the world anywhere should learn as much of it as they can bear. That is our duty.
art dancers everybody nobody painters realized sarah wore writers
At Sarah Lawrence, I realized that everybody was already what they were going to be. The painters were painting, the writers writing, the dancers dancing. And nobody wore any makeup. The art was uppermost.
confused learn ourselves
We must, all of us, learn actually not to have enemies, but only confused adversaries who are ourselves in disguise.
became farms helping later lawyer married met people roles taken thrown welfare
In the summer of 1966, I went to Mississippi to be in the heart of the civil-rights movement, helping people who had been thrown off the farms or taken off the welfare roles for registering to vote. While working there, I met the civil-rights lawyer I later married - we became an interracial couple.
american-author power
Nobody is as powerful as we make them out to be.
civil grievance movement rights south travel triumphs
One of the triumphs of the Civil Rights Movement is that when you travel through the South today, you do not feel overwhelmed by a residue of grievance and hate.
earth fail god nature original readers realize
Many readers fail to realize this, but 'The Color Purple' is a theological text. It is about the reclamation of one's original God: the earth and nature.
fear hope people stand tells truth
As long as the people don't fear the truth, there is hope. For once they fear it, the one who tells it doesn't stand a chance. And today, truth is still beautiful... but so frightening.
aid attempted early exercise freedom joined known land movement thrown
When I joined the freedom movement in Mississippi in my early 20s, it was to come to the aid of sharecroppers, like my parents, who had been thrown off the land they'd always known - the plantations - because they attempted to exercise their 'democratic' right to vote.
anger hold love
You know how big love is? Love is big. love can hold anger; love can even hold hatred.