Alice Walker

#AliceWalker (February 9, 1944 – ): Walker is known by many for her amazing literary work, #TheColorPurple, which was made into a famous movie as well as a successful Broadway musical. However, she is so much more than that. Growing up in segregated Georgia, Walker was valedictorian of her high school and continued her education at #SpelmanCollege before transferring to #SarahLawrenceCollege, where she graduated in 1965. After suffering the effects of depression and suicidal thoughts after having an abortion, she wrote her first literary work #Once, a collection of her poetry from this dark time in her life. She continued work as a writer and activist with the #NewYorkCityDepartmentOfWelfare, #LegalDefenseFund of the #NAACP in Mississippi, #JacksonStateUniversity, #TougalooCollege, and #MsMagazine. During this time she worked with voter registration in Georgia and Mississippi and took part in the 1963 #MarchOnWashington. In 1967, she married a white man when interracial marriage was illegal in the American South and suffered threats by the KKK for marrying who she loved. Together, they had a daughter, Rebecca Walker, whose godmother is Alice Walker’s mentor at Ms. Magazine, #GloriaSteinem. Walker and her husband later divorced, and Walker was romantically involved with singer #TracyChapman in the 1990s, which she described as “delicious and lovely and wonderful and I totally enjoyed it and I was completely in love with her but it was not anybody’s business but ours.” In recent years she has stood up as an anti-war activist and spoken publicly about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, support for #ChelseaManning, #Womanism, and civil rights. #PrideMonth #LGBTQIA #LGBTQIAPride #Pride #LegendsOfPride #YouCannotEraseUs