ENG 104H Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, Bb Gun
Alice Walker - Everyday Use
Childhood
- Born in Georgia (1944)
- Raised on sharecropping dairy farms (mother: maid, father: farmer)
- Parents protected her education under Jim Crow
- Had a BB gun scar until 14 (understood as an accident)
- Was blinded in one eye- scar tissue in eye
- Formative experience. Felt isolate, observed and shaped her as a writer
- Surgery at 14 to remove
Young Adulthood
- Valedictorian of her high school
- Attended Spelman & Sarah Lawrence
- First interracial marriage in Mississippi
Career and Activism
- Editor at Ms. Magazine
- Revived interest in Zora Neale Hurston (harlem renaissance, major African literature)
- Coined the terms “womanism” (feminism for women of color. Said it needed its own word
and argued that feminism was for middle class women) and “colorism” (prejudice based
on skin tones: dark and light instead of black and white)
- Deep involvement in civil rights (MLK, march, pro-Palestinian, feminist, peace activism
(arrested in 2003)
Writing:
- Most famous work: The Color Purple
- Themes: parent-child relationships, forgiveness, sexuality, sexism, racism
Document Summary
Raised on sharecropping dairy farms (mother: maid, father: farmer) Parents protected her education under jim crow. Had a bb gun scar until 14 (understood as an accident) Was blinded in one eye- scar tissue in eye. Felt isolate, observed and shaped her as a writer. Revived interest in zora neale hurston (harlem renaissance, major african literature) Coined the terms womanism (feminism for women of color. Said it needed its own word and argued that feminism was for middle class women) and colorism (prejudice based on skin tones: dark and light instead of black and white) Deep involvement in civil rights (mlk, march, pro-palestinian, feminist, peace activism (arrested in 2003)
