57 Fun Facts About The Color Purple

Who wrote the novel The Color Purple?

Alice Walker caught Langston Hughes's attention early: he put her short story 'To Hell with Dying' in his 1967 anthology.

Celie first sees Shug Avery in what?

A picture: later Mister brings the real Shug home sick, and it is Celie who nurses her back to health.

Which prize did The Color Purple win, one Gwendolyn Brooks had won for poetry decades earlier?

Pulitzer Prize: yet the same novel later became one of the books most often challenged in US schools and libraries.

The Color Purple won which 1983 prize, one that Saul Bellow won three times?

National Book Award: its author at first doubted the novel should become a film, yet she sold the film rights.

The Color Purple is written in which literary form?

Epistolary: warned to tell no one about her abuse, Celie confides it in letters, so readers learn her story in her own words.

To whom does Celie address her early letters?

God: the man she calls Pa warns her, 'You better not never tell nobody but God,' so she pours everything into letters to God.

The Color Purple is set in the countryside of which US state?

Georgia: Celie ends the story there in the house her real father left, which her stepfather had kept until his death.

In The Color Purple, what first name does Celie finally call her husband, long known only as Mister?

Albert: she starts using it after Mister's life falls apart and he changes, and the man who once beat her becomes her friend.

What is the name of the man Celie believes is her father, later revealed to be her stepfather?

Alphonso: after white neighbors lynched Celie's real father for running too successful a store, Alphonso married her widowed mother.

Mister's son Harpo marries which strong-willed woman?

Sofia: when Harpo, on Celie's advice, tries to beat her into obeying, she fights back.

Shug Avery, Mister's long-time mistress, makes her living as what?

A blues singer: learning that Mister beats Celie, Shug vows to stay in the house until she is sure he has stopped.

Harpo's wife is beaten by police and jailed after striking whom?

The mayor: when she refused his wife, he slapped her, and she knocked him down.

How does Harpo's wife serve much of her sentence?

Housemaid: she ends up as maid to the very woman whose offer of work she had refused.

What is the real name of Harpo's girlfriend, nicknamed Squeak?

Mary Agnes: after the warden assaults her while she bargains for Harpo's wife's release, she insists Harpo call her by her real name.

Celie's sister goes to Africa with which missionary couple?

Samuel and Corrine: by coincidence, the couple had already adopted Celie's own two children, taken from her as babies.

What are the names of Celie's two children, taken from her shortly after birth?

Olivia and Adam: raised abroad by the missionaries who adopted them, they finally come home to Celie at the story's end.

Celie, Shug and Squeak leave for which city, where Celie starts her own business?

Memphis: before leaving, Celie curses Mister, telling him nothing will go right for him until he changes his ways.

What kind of business does Celie start after leaving Mister?

She later inherits her parents' land and house and moves back home to run it from there.

In Africa, Celie's son marries which local girl?

Tashi: when she feels ashamed of her ritual facial scars, her future husband has his own face scarred to match.

The Color Purple's long-awaited family reunion takes place on which holiday?

Fourth of July: after thirty years apart, the whole family gathers for a barbecue, and Celie says she has never felt younger.

Late in the novel Shug breaks Celie's heart by falling for which member of her band?

Germaine: Celie resolves to love Shug even if Shug doesn't love her back, and Shug eventually returns to her.

When Shug returns to town married, what is her new husband's name?

Grady: when Shug finally leaves Mister's house, she takes Grady and Celie with her.

How did the 1985 film of The Color Purple soften Celie and Shug's love affair?

Reduced it to a kiss: gone was the novel's scene of Shug teaching Celie about her own body.

In The Color Purple, what destroys the African village where Celie's sister lives?

A rubber company's road: the company then made the villagers pay for water on land that had been theirs.

The Color Purple's author refused to let a new edition of the book be published in which country?

Israel: in her letter refusing it, she noted she had likewise kept the 1985 film from being shown in apartheid South Africa.

The Color Purple's author was born in which small farming town, the model for the book's setting?

Eatonton: a childhood injury left her shy, and she found solace in reading and writing poetry.

The Color Purple's author was blinded in her right eye at age eight by what?

A BB gun pellet: a brother fired it during a game of cowboys and Indians, and with no car to reach a doctor, the eye's sight was lost.

Which term did The Color Purple's author coin for 'a Black feminist or feminist of color'?

Womanist: the idea grew from a sense that mainstream feminism had neglected the concerns of Black women.

The Color Purple's author graduated from which college in Yonkers, New York?

Sarah Lawrence College: a study trip to Africa while she was a student there fed the poems of her first book, Once.

Which later novel by The Color Purple's author centres on the African wife of Celie's son?

Possessing the Secret of Joy: it follows her through female genital cutting, a practice its author campaigned against in real life.

Who directed the 1985 film of The Color Purple?

Steven Spielberg: he saw it as his chance to prove he could make a serious drama, not just blockbusters.

Who played Celie in the 1985 film of The Color Purple, in her breakthrough role?

Whoopi Goldberg: then a stand-up comic, she wrote to the novel's author asking to be considered for Celie.

Which TV host made her film debut in the 1985 film of The Color Purple, earning an Oscar nomination?

Oprah Winfrey: though she had never acted before, she later helped produce the Broadway musical of the story.

Who composed the 1985 film's score, the first Spielberg feature not scored by John Williams?

He also produced the film and delegated so much of the score that the Oscar nomination listed twelve names.

Who adapted The Color Purple for the 1985 film after the novelist's own screenplay was set aside?

Menno Meyjes: the novelist stayed on anyway, serving as a consultant on the set.

Although set further south, the 1985 film of The Color Purple was shot mainly in which state?

North Carolina: crews covered Marshville's paved streets in dirt to pass for the early 1900s.

Both Supporting Actress nominees from the 1985 film of The Color Purple lost to which Prizzi's Honor star?

Anjelica Huston: her father John Huston directed her in the role, just as he had directed his own father Walter to an Oscar.

Which actor played Celie's husband Mister in the 1985 film of The Color Purple?

Danny Glover: Mister's brutality fed complaints from some critics that the film portrayed Black men unfairly.

The actress who played Celie in 1985 lost the Best Actress Oscar to which star of The Trip to Bountiful?

Geraldine Page: it was her eighth nomination, and she had lost the previous seven times.

Which song from the 1985 film of The Color Purple earned an Oscar nomination?

Miss Celie's Blues (Sister): it lost the Oscar to 'Say You, Say Me', written by its own co-lyricist, Lionel Richie.

In the 1985 film of The Color Purple, what is Shug Avery's father's job?

A preacher: disapproving of the life she leads, he shuns her, and Shug spends the film trying to win back his love.

In The Color Purple, why does Mister agree to marry Celie?

To get a wife to raise his children: he had really wanted her younger sister, but her father offered him Celie instead.

Why does the missionary's wife grow cold toward Celie's sister?

She thinks the children are hers: only when reminded that she once met Celie does the dying woman believe her.

Who wrote the book of The Color Purple stage musical?

Marsha Norman: she later co-founded the Lilly Awards, named for playwright Lillian Hellman, to honour women's work in theatre.

Who originated the role of Celie on Broadway in 2005?

LaChanze: she later sang 'Amazing Grace' at the dedication of the 9/11 memorial museum, honouring her husband, killed in the attacks.

Who won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical as Celie in the Broadway revival?

She had first played the part at London's Menier Chocolate Factory in 2013, and the revival also won Best Revival of a Musical.

What did the 2023 film of The Color Purple set out to explore, rather than dwelling on Celie's abuse?

Her imagination: its dreamlike scenes show the hopes and dreams that her harsh real life keeps beaten down.

What is Celie's climactic Act II solo in the musical, in which she finally feels love for herself?

I'm Here: she sings it after Shug runs off with a 19-year-old musician in her band, when Celie finds the heartbreak hasn't broken her.

Who directed the 2023 musical film of The Color Purple?

Blitz Bazawule: the producers chose him after seeing his first feature film, The Burial of Kojo.

Which American Idol star played Celie in the 2023 film of The Color Purple?

Fantasia Barrino: the filmmakers wanted her for the raw emotion and powerful voice she brought to the part.

Which actress earned the 2023 film of The Color Purple its only Oscar nomination?

Danielle Brooks: though she had already played the part on Broadway, she still had to audition for the film, a process that took months.

Who played Shug Avery in the 2023 film of The Color Purple?

Taraji P. Henson: though she was the director's first choice, the studio still made her audition for the part.

Which actor played Mister in the 2023 film The Color Purple?

Colman Domingo: the film's long last act turns to Mister's redemption, as he vows to do right by Celie and works to reunite the sisters.

Which singer made her feature acting debut as Squeak in the 2023 film The Color Purple?

H.E.R.: her Squeak, Harpo's new girlfriend, starts a brawl at his juke joint when he dances with his estranged wife.

The 1985 film's Celie makes a cameo in the 2023 film in what role?

A midwife: she delivers teenage Celie's second baby, a son that the man she calls Pa then takes away from her.

On which holiday did the 2023 movie musical of The Color Purple open in US cinemas?

Christmas Day: Warner Bros. had first set it for December 20, then swapped release dates with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

What do Celie and Shug discover that Mister has been hiding from Celie for years?

Letters from her sister Nettie: in the novel, Celie later also discovers that the man she calls Pa is really her stepfather.