Includes bibliographical references (p. 152-157) and index.

Walker's childhood, education, and crusade for African American women / Barbara T. Christian -- Alice Walker's childhood sense of betrayal / Evelyn C. White -- Feeling like an outsider / Maria Lauret -- From being dominated to taking charge / Donna Haisty Winchell -- Being deprived of a mother's bond / Charles L. Proudfit -- The myth of the rape and silencing of Philomela informs The color purple / Martha J. Cutter -- Walker revises traditional gender roles / Mae G. Henderson -- Trading male literary traditions for female oral ones / Valerie Babb -- Walker's relationship with the African American male / Philip M. Royster -- Folk art as a means to female survival / Keith E. Byerman -- Male cruelty leads to positive changes / Henry O. Dixon -- Centering on women but ignoring race and economics / bell hooks -- The color purple is a disservice to black women / Trudier Harris -- Women achieve social change through folk art / Anne Constable -- Domestic violence retains cultural momentum worldwide / Sonya Weakley -- Conflicting feminist ideologies among black women / Patricia Hill Collins -- A black celebrity decides to make her sexual orientation known / Ari Karpel.