Alice Walker
I chose to do my biography on Alice Walker. The reason why I chose her is because she
is a conscientious woman, the author of my favorite book/movie The Color Purple, and she is
also the first black woman writer to receive the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award in
fiction. Her impact on society was remarkable. She married a man who was a white/Jewish
lawyer, and they were the first integrated couple to live in Mississippi. They were harassed and
threatened by the Ku Klux Klan. Walker has served as a powerful role model in both the civil
rights and women’s movement. She helped shape how people of all backgrounds think and talk
about racial issues.
When she was eight years old a terrible accident led her to become blind in her right eye,
which left an ugly scar. This accident led Alice to become sad, alienation, betrayed, and self-
conscious. After the accident she withdrew herself from the world for a very long time. She
thought she was ugly and disfigured, she became shy and timid and the only way she could deal
with her situation was to read and write. She was praised for her poems, novels, essays, short
stories, and criticism, which represented the struggle black people had to go through and the
experiences black women had to endure in a sexist and racist society. Alice Walker is one of the
most leading voices among black African American women writers today.
Citation: Alice Walker A Life: Evelyn C. White