Walker’s parents resisted landlords who expected the children of black sharecroppers to work in the fields at a young age. A white plantation owner said to her that black people had “no need for education.”

Minnie Walker, Alice’s mother, replied “You might have some black children somewhere, but they don’t live in this house. Don’t you ever come around here again talking about how my children don’t need to learn how to read and write.”

Her mother enrolled Alice in first grade when she was four years old.

Alice put the education her mother fought for to good use going on to write smash hit novel The Color Purple. Alice also wrote the novels Meridian and The Third Life of Grange Copeland, among many other works.

The Color Purple 10 Inspiring Quotes from Alice Walker

“Activism is my rent for living on the planet.”