Alice WalkerAlice Walker, one of the best-known and most respected writers in the United States, was born in Eatonton, Georgia, the eighth and youngest child of Willie Lee and Minnie Lou Grant Walker. His parents were sharecroppers and money was not always available when needed. At the age of eight, Walker lost sight of one eye when one of his older brothers accidentally shot him with a BB gun. This left her in some depression and she isolated herself from other children. Walker felt like she was no longer a little girl because of the traumatic experience she had, and she was full of shame because she found her unpleasant to look at. During this isolation from other children his age, Walker began to write poems. This is how his writing career began. Despite this tragedy in her life and feelings of inferiority, Walker became valedictorian of her high school class and received a "rehabilitation scholarship" to attend Spelman. Spelman College was a black women's college located in Atlanta, Georgia, not far from Walker's home. At Spelman, Walker became involved in civil rights protests in which she denounced the silence of the institution's curriculum regarding African American culture and history. His participation in such activities led to his dismissal from the college. So she transferred to Sarah Lawrence College in New York and had the opportunity to travel to Africa on a student exchange. Upon her return, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Sarah Lawrence College in 1965. She received a writing scholarship and planned to spend it in Senegal, West Africa, but her plans changed when she decided to accept a job as a social worker in Senegal. New York City Social Services Department. Walker later moved to Tougaloo, Mississippi, during which time she became more involved in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. She used her own and others' experiences as material for her searing analyzes of politics. She also devoted her time to the voter registration drive in Mississippi. Walker often admits that her decision not to accept the writing fellowship was based on the realization that she could never live happily in Africa or anywhere else until she could live freely in Mississippi. Walker found the love of his life in 1967, a white civil activist. the human rights lawyer's name is Mel Leventhal, and they got married in 1967.