This biography explores Alice Walker's life experiences and her lifework in context of her philosophical thought, and celebrates the author's creative genius and heroism. Born in Eatonton, GA, in 1944, a daughter of sharecroppers, Alice Walker has lived a remarkable and courageous life, and she continues to do so as an elder. Taking inspiration from her great-great-great-great grandmother who lived enslaved in the American South and died at age 125, Walker's activism stems from a philosophy that embraces all life and expresses itself through courageous truth-telling, a resolute stand for freedom, and radical love. Alice Walker: A Woman for Our Times offers a full examination of the intellectual underpinnings of Walker's life and her oeuvre from a philosophical standpoint. This philosophical biography draws a portrait of the author that reveals the nuances of her character, clarifies the relationship between her life experiences and her lifework, and the philosophical thought that underlies both. This work will be essential reading to those interested in Black studies, women's studies, the Civil Rights and Black Arts movements, peace studies, the American South, philosophy, psychology, sociology, spirituality and New Age literature, and ecology and eco-feminism.
Author(s): Deborah G. Plant
Series: Women Writers of Color
Publisher: Praeger, an imprint of ABC-CLIO
Year: 2017
Language: English
Pages: 272
Tags: American—20th century— Biography. | African American women authors—Biography. | Civil rights workers—United States—Biography
Cover......Page 1
Half Title......Page 2
Title......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
Dedication......Page 6
Contents......Page 8
Series Foreword......Page 12
Acknowledgments......Page 14
Introduction......Page 16
Section I. Earth Poem: "There Are Bad Women Walking on the Planet Now"......Page 20
One I Am the Earth. . . .......Page 24
Two For Six Years I Do Not Look Up......Page 32
Three Everything Changed......Page 38
Four A Spelman Girl......Page 44
Five On My Own Terms......Page 52
Section II. Fire Poem: "A Message to Younger Sisters: Be Whole"......Page 58
Six I Would Only Be the Philosopher......Page 60
Seven Changing the World......Page 68
Eight Meridian: Coming of Age in Mississippi......Page 76
Nine Thought at the Meridian......Page 86
Ten Truth Teller, Freedom Writer......Page 96
Section III. Air Poem: "The Clitoris Knows When and How"......Page 106
Eleven Apologia: Honoring the Difficult......Page 108
Twelve Helped Are Those Who Know......Page 116
Thirteen A Woman of One's Own: Womanist Philosophy and Revitalization of the Sovereign Feminine......Page 126
Fourteen The Sacred Masculine......Page 136
Fifteen The Gnostic Gospel of My Father's Smile......Page 146
Section IV. Water Poem: "My Body Is a Farm" (For My Son)......Page 158
Sixteen Mbele Aché......Page 162
Seventeen Sub Rosa No Longer: Our Daughters Have Mothers......Page 172
Eighteen Absolute Goodness......Page 182
Nineteen Why War Is Never a Good Idea......Page 190
Twenty We Are the Ones......Page 196
Section V. Aether Poem: "Little Girls"......Page 202
Twenty-One The Cathedral of the Future......Page 206
Twenty-Two Caritas: The Greatest of These......Page 214
Twenty-Three Ouroboros......Page 222
Twenty-Four "Alice" Is Old Greek for Truth......Page 232
Twenty-Five Lapis Philosophorum......Page 236
Notes......Page 238
Index......Page 264
