50 Fun Facts About Alice Walker
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Take the 50-question quizAlice Walker was born in 1944 in which US state?
Her parents were sharecroppers in the rural farming town of Eatonton.
How did the eight-year-old Alice Walker lose the sight in her right eye?
With no car to reach a doctor, the injury went untreated; she turned to reading and writing afterwards.
From which college did Alice Walker graduate in 1965?
She transferred there from Spelman after her mentor Howard Zinn was fired.
At which historically Black women's college did Walker study before transferring?
Georgia gave her a full scholarship as her high school's valedictorian.
What was the title of Alice Walker's first book, a 1968 poetry collection?
She slipped the poems under the office door of her professor, poet Muriel Rukeyser.
Which poet and mentor passed Walker's student poems to her literary agent?
Once was published four years later by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
In Walker's first novel, what is the name of Grange Copeland's granddaughter?
Grange moves from a low moral and economic point to stability and redemption across three lives.
Pratibha Parmar's 2013 documentary about Alice Walker is titled what?
Parmar also co-wrote Warrior Marks with Walker in 1993.
Whose unmarked grave did Walker locate and mark in Florida in 1973?
Her Ms. magazine essay "Looking for Zora" helped revive interest in the novelist and folklorist.
The epitaph Walker chose for Hurston's grave, "A Genius of the South", comes from whose poem?
The line is from "Georgia Dusk" in his book Cane; the marker also got Hurston's birth year wrong.
Walker coined which term, meaning "a Black feminist or feminist of color"?
It first appeared in her 1983 collection In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens.
Walker's 1983 essay collection, where she defined her term for Black feminism, is titled what?
The book's title essay honours the creativity of Black women denied formal outlets.
Walker's 1976 novel Meridian centres on a young woman involved in which cause?
Meridian Hill attends the fictional Saxon College as the movement turns violent.
The Color Purple is written in which literary form?
Celie writes to God, and later the sisters' hidden correspondence drives the plot.
Besides the Pulitzer, which major US prize did The Color Purple win in 1983?
Both awards came the year after publication.
Who is the protagonist of The Color Purple?
She is a poor girl in rural Georgia in the early 1900s who writes letters to God.
In The Color Purple, what is the name of Celie's younger sister?
She goes to Africa with missionaries, and her letters are hidden from Celie for years.
Which character in The Color Purple is a blues singer and Mister's long-time mistress?
She becomes Celie's closest companion and teaches her to value herself.
In The Color Purple, Sofia is jailed after hitting whom?
She is sentenced to 12 years and ends up working as the mayor's wife's maid.
What business does Celie start after leaving Mister in The Color Purple?
She sets up in Memphis, Tennessee, with Shug and Squeak.
What is Mister's first name, which Celie eventually begins using, in The Color Purple?
He proposes they remarry "in the spirit as well as in the flesh"; she declines.
The Color Purple appears on the ALA's most-challenged books list for 2000-2010 at what rank?
Explicit content, particularly violence, is the usual objection.
Which 1992 Walker novel follows Tashi, a minor character from The Color Purple?
It is set among the Olinka, Walker's fictional West African people, and insists "torture is not culture".
Who directed the 1985 film of The Color Purple?
It was his eighth film and a deliberate departure from summer blockbusters.
Who played Celie in the 1985 film of The Color Purple?
It was her breakthrough role and won her a Golden Globe.
Who composed the score for the 1985 film, the first Spielberg film not scored by John Williams?
He also produced the film and brought the project to Spielberg.
Which talk-show host made her film debut as Sofia in the 1985 Color Purple?
She later produced the Broadway musical and the 2023 film.
How many Academy Award nominations did the 1985 Color Purple receive without a single win?
It tied The Turning Point for the most nominations with no win.
In which state was the 1985 film of The Color Purple shot?
Anson and Union counties stood in for rural Georgia.
Who played Mister in the 1985 film of The Color Purple?
Margaret Avery played Shug and earned an Oscar nomination.
Roughly how much did the 1985 Color Purple gross at the box office?
Warner Bros. released it on December 18, 1985.
Who wrote the book of the Broadway musical The Color Purple?
Russell, Willis and Stephen Bray wrote the music and lyrics.
Where did The Color Purple musical have its 2004 world premiere?
The Alliance Theatre workshopped it before Broadway in 2005.
How many regular performances did the original Broadway Color Purple run for?
It recouped its $11 million investment within a year and grossed over $103 million.
Who originated Celie in the Broadway musical The Color Purple?
She had also played the role at the Atlanta premiere.
Which American Idol winner took over as Celie on Broadway in 2007?
She was the first Idol winner on Broadway and later starred in the 2023 film.
Who won the 2016 Tony for Best Actress as Celie in the Broadway revival?
The revival also took Best Revival of a Musical.
Which singer made her Broadway debut as Shug in the 2015 revival?
Heather Headley took over the role in May 2016.
Who directed the 2023 musical film of The Color Purple?
Spielberg, Quincy Jones, Oprah Winfrey and Scott Sanders all produced.
Who received an Oscar nomination for playing Sofia in the 2023 Color Purple?
She reprised the role from the Broadway revival.
Who played Shug in the 2023 film of The Color Purple?
The film swept a record eleven NAACP Image Awards.
Walker's short story "Everyday Use" first appeared in 1973 in which magazine?
It was collected in In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women.
In "Everyday Use", Dee changes her name to what?
She wants the family quilts for display; her mother and sister want them for use.
Walker married lawyer Melvyn Leventhal in 1967 where?
Interracial marriage was still illegal in the South; they became Mississippi's first legal interracial couple.
Walker's only child, Rebecca, co-founded which activist fund?
Rebecca's godmother is Gloria Steinem.
Walker donated 122 boxes of her papers in 2007 to which university?
The collection includes a poetry scrapbook she compiled at 15.
Which feminist publishing house did Walker co-found in California in 1984?
She started it with writer Robert L. Allen in Anderson Valley.
Walker was arrested outside the White House in March 2003 protesting what?
Maxine Hong Kingston and Terry Tempest Williams were arrested alongside her.
Walker refused to let the 1985 film be shown in which country until apartheid ended?
She has also declined a Hebrew translation of the novel.
Walker legally added which names to her own in 1994 to honour her mother and grandmother?
Her great-great-grandmother Tallulah was Cherokee.
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