Scholarly Blog Post
Class, Race, and Illness Through Alice Walker’s Eyes
As a class we visited the “Special Collections” in the Ina Dillard Library at Georgia College and State University. We looked into and discovered more of Alice Walker and her letters she had written over the years to her sister, Mammie. Alice Walker was a female who grew up in Georgia and is known for her work of literature. She is famous for all her poems, and novels, but specifically we looked into her letters to her sister. As going through these stations, we as a group notice that Alice showed different themes in each letter she wrote. Our main focus is on her ways of looking into race, class, and illness. Alice shows these themes in her letters to her beloved sister by speaking on the past and fun stories of her class, she also spoke on the racial background and how she was never ashamed of her race, but also she spoke on her sisters illness and how she left her in her fifties.
Alice Walker boldly writes “You’ve heard of the second wave of feminism? Well, this morning I planted the second wave of sweet corn” in a letter to her sister on July 1, 1988. This connects race and class as the Walker family was poor and African American which was a difficult combination during this time. Because of this, she feels the need to speak up and encourage others to be a part of the second wave feminism during this time to create an equality for all.
Walker and her sister both grew up in Eatonton, GA; they had a rough childhood for one being looked at differently for their skin color and also due to the fact they lived an impoverished lifestyle. Through their struggles, Alice and her sister fought hard to see hope in the darkness. Even once they grew up, Alice continued to fight for them both after Mamie got sick. She writes fondly of and to her sister and keeps her spirit alive through her works. “For my sister Mamie who in the fifties knew all the written things that made us laugh and stories by the hour waking up the story bids like fruit.”
Walker has first hand experience dealing with racial discrimination. Growing up in the deep south in the town of Eatonton, Georgia could not be easy especially in the time she was being raised. The Civil Rights Movement was in full swing in her teenage years. One thing Alice was passionate about was her race and heritage. She writes of experiences in South Africa where she fell in love with the people and culture. In one letter she talks of her sister teaching her traditional African songs that, “Sounded of much humility, love, and devotion”. Her confidence in herself and her heritage is inspiring to many around the world, especially given her circumstances.
In Alice Walker’s poem “Word has Reached Me” she writes “I hear your quiet moans of resistance”. This line refers to her sister’s resistance against death on the surface, but when considering Alice Walker’s class and race this line is referring to so much more. She is describing her sister’s and her overall resistance in society and how they continue to fight for equality as two female African Americans living in an impoverished area of Eatonton. A more personal example of the connection between illness with race and class exists in a letter Sally Walker wrote to her sister on September 8, 2000. She wrote “May the peace of the Earth and moon goddess be with you through this exceedingly trying time”. She depicts how through her illness she must remain strong, not only due to her illness, but also because of her race and class which most likely contributes to the healthcare that is available to her.
Alice Walker is a courageous woman as well as a brilliant writer. She brings light to the issues she noticed throughout her life such as culture, race and illness. Following reading her letters to her sister Mamie, we learned of the characteristics that created her not only to be a credited author but as well as a kind, strong and compassionate person. She reaches her readers through her poems and stories by connecting all of her experiences with life connections as an impoverished african american woman living in the deep south of Georgia.
References
Letter to Mammie on July 1, 1998, Mammie Walker/ Alice Walker collection, Special Collections, Ina Dillard Russell Library, Georgia College, https://libguides.gcsu.edu/walker-collection
Letter to Mammie on September 8, 2000, Mammie Walker/ Alice Walker collection, Special Collections, Ina Dillard Russell Library, Georgia College, https://libguides.gcsu.edu/walker-collection
“Word has reached Me”, Mammie Walker/ Alice Walker collection, Special Collections, Ina Dillard Russell Library, Georgia College, https://libguides.gcsu.edu/walker-collection
Letter to Mammie on August 19, 1988, Mammie Walker/ Alice Walker collection, Special Collections, Ina Dillard Russell Library, Georgia College, https://libguides.gcsu.edu/walker-collection
Letter to Mammie on April 17, 1981, Mammie Walker/ Alice Walker collection, Special Collections, Ina Dillard Russell Library, Georgia College, https://libguides.gcsu.edu/walker-collection
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