Alice Walker

Alice Walker never did things the way somebody told her to, but the way she had to. ALICE WALKER: BEAUTY IN TRUTH is a loving portrait of the passionate personality that made the Pulitzer Prize-winning activist-author a revered and criticized figure. An African-American sharecropper’s daughter, Alice graduated from Sarah Lawrence, aided by her determined mother. Walker’s 1967 marriage to Jewish civil rights lawyer Melvyn Leventhal broke miscegenation laws in their home state of Mississippi. Never shy of controversy, Walker’s novels show the human cost to people struggling for their rights—The Color Purple in particular caused huge protests. ALICE WALKER: BEAUTY IN TRUTH incorporates interviews (her associates include Howard Zinn, Angela Davis, Steven Spielberg, Gloria Steinem, and Whoopi Goldberg) with snapshots, civil rights footage, and readings by the author. While still active in Africa and the Middle East, Alice Walker continues to seek tranquility in the regenerative power of nature. This powerful film displays the many facets of an American icon’s unyielding character. —B.B.