Alice Walker
(1944-)

African-American Author, Social Activist

1997 Humanist of the Year
2007 Global Exchange Human Rights Award

California Hall of Fame

birthdate: February 9
birthplace:
Eatonton, Georgia

Alice Walker is best known for her 1982 novel, The Color of Purple, which won the Pulitzer Prize and was made into an Oscar-nominated movie and Broadway musical. Like this story, most of her work - five novels, and a number of essay and poetry collections, deals with social issues, particularly race relations, civil rights, peace, and gender equality. Alice Walker's lifelong activism was sparked when she met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr while she was a student at Spelman College in the 1960s. Meeting him inspired her to engage in the civil rights movement, and she volunteered to register black voters in the South, and joined hundreds of thousands in the 1963 March on Washington, where Martin Luther King delivered his famous "I Have A Dream" speech. Since then she has continued to be a leader in progressive politics and social causes.

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