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Description:

The Color Purple is a moving account of the struggles and joys in the life of an African American woman from childhood through adulthood as told through her letters. The story centers on the life of Celie, a black woman growing up in the South. She must overcome masogeny, racism and poverty to establish herself as an independent person. The novel also follows the maturation of her sister Nettie and the lives of Shug, Albert, and much of his extended family. More... (© Classic Notes;)

About the author:

Alice Malsenior Walker was born on February 9, 1944 in Eatonton, Georgia, the eighth and youngest child of Minnie Tallulah Grant Walker and Willie Lee Walker. Her parents were poor sharecroppers but wealthy of spirit and love.Her father's great-great-great grandmother Mary Poole was a slave forced to walk from Virginia to Georgia with a baby in each arm. Her mother's grandmother Talluhah was mostly Cherokee Indian. Alice is deeply proud of her cultural inheritances. More... (© Melinda Jackson;)

Curriculum Resources:

• The Color Purple: A Lesson Plan by Lisa Morse, Laura Johnson, and Nicole Cook
  http://krypton.mnsu.edu/~johnsl8/alice.htm
  
  
• Multi-disciplinary Approaches to The Color Purple by Donna Spissa
  Project Overview; Literary Analysis; Performance; Research and Technology; Journalism; Service Learning; Resources & Bibliography
  http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Bridge/5486/awalkerncte.html
  
  
• Rationale for Teaching The Color Purple by Patrick M. Clarke, NCTE
  http://www.ncte.org/censorship/rationales/color1.htm
  
  
• Alice Walker's The Color Purple
  Study guide: Author Bio; Plot Summary; Characters; The Epistolary Novel; Afro-Centricism & Gender; Male Imagery; Quote Analysis; General Questions; Essay Topics (composed by the members of Mr. Stone's 1996-1997 English 10 class)
  http://www.geocities.com/Athens/9089/colorpurple.html
  
  
  
• The Color Purple - Study Guide
  http://www.uwyo.edu/wch/bdpguidecp.htm (Wyoming Council for the Humanities ;)
  
  
• Lesson Plan: Legacies by Lauren E.M. Stowe
  Students will write about their "stories" and be asked to compare those to the ones they read about in The Color Purple and The Joy Luck Club (OUSD Core Literature 11th Grade).
  http://www.denison.edu/~stowe_l/legacyone.html

Booknotes about The Color Purple:

• ClassicNote by Nick Smith
  About Alice Walker; Short Summary; Entire Novel Summary and Analysis; Character Information; Online References; Essays; Message Board
  http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/The_Color_Purple/ (ClassicNotes.com; )
  
  
• NovelGuide
  Novel Summary; Character Profiles; Metaphor Analysis; Theme Analysis; Top Ten Quotes; Biography
  http://www.novelguide.com/thecolorpurple/index.html (NovelGuide.com; )
  
  
• PinkMonkey® Literature Note by Diane Sauder
  Message Board; Key Literary Elements; Chapter Summaries with Notes; Overall Analyses; Questions
  http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmColorPurple01.asp (PinkMonkey.com)
  
  
• SparkNote by Selena Ward
  Context; Characters;Summary; Study Questions
  http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/purple/ (GradeSaver.com; )

Websites about the book:

• Alice Walker, The Color Purple (1982) by Catherine Lavender
  Questions to think about; Further resources for studying The Color Purple; Walker placed in context;
  http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/purple.html (The City University of New York; )

Websites about the author:

• Anniina's Alice Walker Page by Anniina Jokinen
  Biography and links to biographical information; interviews; poetry; short stories and excerpts; essays, articles and criticism; bibliographies; reviews; miscellaneous
  http://www.luminarium.org/contemporary/alicew/
  
  
• Alice Walker - Womanist Writer by Melinda Jackson
  http://wwwvms.utexas.edu/~melindaj/alice.html