it's 1982 and America is recovering from
a recession
however in Alice Walker's head its 1909
and her ancestors are fighting to
recover their dignity from centuries of
slavery poverty and abuse a lot of the
things in the color purple' happened to
people in my family long before I was
born my grandmother was murdered by a
man who wanted to be her lover it really
influenced my imagination because I
really missed her
I missed not having this elder and this
grandmother it's not autobiographical in
the sense that I knew hardly anybody I
listened to people tell stories about
the family part of the creation of the
color purple is just out of a longing to
be more intimate with my ancestors at a
time when I didn't exist in a series of
letters to God Alice has created an
inspiring story of an unforgettable
woman who through love finds the
strength to triumph over adversity and
discover her own voice in the world dear
God
I'm 14 years old I've always been a good
girl
maybe you can give me a son let me know
what's happening to me the color purple
is soon published and over five million
copies sold and to her surprise Alice's
work is honored with the pulitzer prize
the first african-american woman ever to
receive this prestigious award well at
the time that I wrote the color purple
which you'll see over 20 years ago I was
deeply in love with one of the cutest
men on the planet and we were just
deliciously happy and so I felt that the
the work that I was doing in the novel
was somehow carrying this charge of love
and passion and that it was rooted in
something and I always thought of it
just as a gift
it's 1985 and Alice has moved on the
last thing she expects is to get a call
from award-winning director Steven
Spielberg he also has a vision to bring
the color purple to the big screen in my
audition for Alice Walker
I didn't just meet her I knew I was
going to audition I knew that she had
the power to say for whatever reason I
don't think he's right to to turn my
Pulitzer prize-winning story into a
motion picture and I went to meet her to
sell myself I hadn't done that in a
decade and and I was enthusiastic about
it too because at that point I really
wanted to tell that story soon his cast
of relative unknowns are thrust into the
limelight and his film honored that year
with 11 Oscar nominations becomes an
instant success with audiences the color
purple' legacy lives on