The other night I was doing some research for my African American Women in the U.S course (which I am extremely excited about) when one of my "no excuse terms"(people and events we should already know about) was Alice Walker. Everyone knows who Alice Walker is, I mean she wrote the world renowned novel "The Color Purple." I found one source with a bunch of facts about her, enough to jot down for my assignment but I was so intrigued by this women, and I wanted to learn more. So I read her biography and I was slightly surprised that this African American, feminist and activist married a jewish man. I thought it was so subversive and revolutionary of her and her husband to marry during the 60s which was a time where inter-racial marriage was illegal in most states. I finished the short biography that did not do her interesting life any justice and went on to google "Alice Walker's daughter" The biography exclaimed that her relationship with her daughter was estranged. I looked at pictures of the daughter and thought this women looked familiar but I couldn't put my finger as to why. I clicked on a link which lead to somewhat of a memoir of Rebecca Walker, Alice Walker's daughter recounting her childhood and adulthood having Alice Walker as her mother. I finally remembered why Rebecca Walker looked so familiar, I read this very article, Junior year in my intro to Women Studies class. But after reading Alice Walker's biography and placing her on such a high pedestal for her accomplishments, beliefs, disabilities and strength it was somewhat disheartening that she could inspire so much women around the world but resent her own daughter. My acclaimed views about Alice Walker has not changed however it lead me to think how many people have a side of them that the world sees and a completely different side that their family see. Rebecca Walker's nostalgia was so interesting, by age 13 she was partaking in sexual intercourse and by 14 she had her first abortion. Her mother didn't view her as a daughter but as a fellow sister, encouraging sexual intercourse because it meant she had control over her body. Rebecca would get beat up at school because of her light-skin and the age old stereotype that light-skinned people were stuck up but she never told her mother. Rebecca tried to stay out of her mother's way because she respected that she was hard at work but it hurt that at times her mother would selfishly neglect her maternal duties. Finally when she got pregnant in 2004, Rebecca thought her mother would be happy for her despite the belief's her mother had about women having children. Alice Walker believed in the feminist ideology of a career over being a domesticated housewife; she believed that a women should travel the world, be independent, and have a career as opposed to wanting to be mothers. Alice Walker's reaction to her daughter's pregnancy was cold. Rebecca even questions "would a loving mother do this?"
Rebecca Walker illustrates the controversial side to feminism. Some feminist including Alice Walker are way too extreme with their beliefs. If an ideology impacts the relationship with your own daughter in a negative way something is extremely wrong. Rebecca Walker goes on to say "When I got into Yale - a huge achievement-she asked why on earth I wanted to be educated at such a male bastion. Whenever I published anything, she wanted to write her version-trying to eclipse mine. When I wrote my memoir, Black, White And Jewish, my mother insisted on publishing her version. She finds it impossible to step out of the limelight, which is extremely ironic in light of her view that all women are sisters and should support one another." This type of unsupportive behavior is unacceptable in a so called feminist movement. Feminist are supposed to uplift one another. Feminist should empower, support and be empathetic to other women no matter what color, age or size they are. The beauty of the feminist movement is that it encompasses all women all over the world. It's so ironic that such an esteemed feminist resented their own daughter to this extent. I really enjoyed Rebecca Walker stories, it was respectful yet it exposed to ugly side to feminism when people take it's ideology to extreme. This story was amazing and I urge everyone to read it, the article is attached at the bottom:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1021293/How-mothers-fanatical-feminist-views-tore-apart-daughter-The-Color-Purple-author.html
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