Alice Walker, best known for her novel The Color Purple, is the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction (Alice (Malsenior) Walker ). In addition to writing best-selling books, Walker is a staunch advocate for human rights, racial equality and respect for all forms of life. Her written work and political activism made Alice Walker's writings popular among both women and African Americans. His characters are revolutionary because Walker describes them so differently from those of other authors on similar subjects. Instead of writing about broken souls and lost causes due to an unjust and racist society, Walker writes uplifting and hopeful stories and, in the case of The Color Purple, shows characters who triumph in the face of adversity. Many powerful themes such as the domination of men, the underestimated power of women, and sexism in relation to racism appear throughout her work and have led her to be known as one of the most powerful authors in history. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Unlike many African American children growing up in Walker's time, her family thought it was very important for her to seek a college education. Born in Eatonton, Georgia, Walker was the daughter of a sharecropper, a profession also shared by many of her fictional characters. As one of eight children, Walker was very poor in her early life. When he was eight years old, Walker suffered a rather serious injury from an air rifle accident. Unable to obtain a car due to severe poverty, her parents were unable to take her to the hospital until much later, by which time it was too late to recover the sight from the injured eye or prevent the noticeable scar on her face from appearing . Her self-consciousness and partial blindness have forced her to withdraw and become a withdrawn child, unknowingly aiding her future career by becoming a "meticulous observer of human relationships and interactions" (Alice Walker). He began writing poems and short stories to deal with loneliness. In her early twenties, after receiving a scholarship, Walker became involved in the civil rights movement at Spelman College and Sarah Lawrence College. While boarding the bus to Atlanta, a white woman complained to the bus driver that Walker was sitting in the front of the bus. After being forced to move to the back of the bus, she realized that she "could never have the luxury of just writing poetry," but she also needed to "be politically active to gain enough freedom to write" (Alice Walker Biography). Much of Walker's early childhood issues and experiences with the civil rights movements materialize in the personalities and struggles of his characters. She writes about strong, independent characters who are nevertheless vulnerable, often touching on the central theme of "the search for freedom" (Voices of Power: African-American Women). Her works depict the emotional, physical and psychological torment that has devastated many women and people of color in the past. In the famous poem "Be No One's Darling" she writes, "But be no one's darling; be an outcast," encouraging her readers not to be defined solely by who their husband is, but to live their own life. also incredibly groundbreaking because she was one of the first women to focus primarily on the struggles of women of color. She virtually ignored the traditional view of feminism as white women's liberation.