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Alice Walker (9 February 1944 - / Eatonton Georgia)
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Walker was born in Eatonton, Georgia, the youngest of eight children, to Willie Lee Walker and Minnie Lou Tallulah Grant. Her father, who was, in her words, "wonderful at math but a terrible farmer," earned only $300 a year from sharecropping and dairy farming. Her mother supplemented the family income by working as a maid.She worked 11 hours a day for USD $17 per week to help pay for Alice to attend college.
Living under Jim Crow Laws, Walker's parents resisted landlords who expected the children of black sharecroppers to work the fields at a young age. A white plantation owner said to her that black people had “no need for education.” Minnie Lou Walker said, "You might have some... more »
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Quotations
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''How simple a thing it seems to me that to know ourselves as we are, we must know our mothers' names.''
Alice Walker (b. 1944), U.S. author, critic. repr. In In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens (1983). "A Letter to the Editor of Ms.," Ms. (New York, Aug. 1...
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''It is healthier, in any case, to write for the adults one's children will become than for the children one's "mature" critics often are.''
Alice Walker (b. 1944), U.S. author, critic. repr. In In Search of our Mothers' Gardens (1983). "A Writer Because of, Not in Spite of, Her Children," ...
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''If I could live as a tree, as a river, as the moon, as the sun, as a star, as the earth, as a rock, I would. ...Writing permits me to experience life as any number of strange creations.''
Alice Walker (b. 1944), U.S. poet and fiction writer. Black Women Writers at Work, ch. 12, by Claudia Tate (1985).
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''Never be the only one, except, possibly, in your own home.''
Alice Walker (b. 1944), U.S. author, critic. repr. In In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens (1983). "Breaking Chains and Encouraging Life," Ms. (New York,...
Expect Nothing
Beautiful!
I am very touched by, and enjoyed your poem Blessed are the poor in spirit. It managed to say something I have been trying to communicate for some time now.
The poem 'Expect Nothing' gives me the sensation of unscrewing a lightbulb in total darkness. The expectation is boundless.
Amazing Author!
Her novel, ''The Color Purple, ''
Won both the Pulitzer prize and
The American book award.