This biography explores Alice Walker's life experiences and her lifework in context of her philosophical thought, and celebrates the author's creative genius and heroism.Born in Eatonton, GA, in 1944, a daughter of sharecroppers, Alice Walker has lived a remarkable and courageous life, and she continues to do so as an elder. Taking inspiration from her great-great-great-great grandmother who lived enslaved in the American South and died at age 125, Walker's activism stems from a philosophy that embraces all life and expresses itself through courageous truth-telling, a resolute stand for freedom, and radical love.Alice Walker: A Woman for Our Times offers a full examination of the intellectual underpinnings of Walker's life and her oeuvre from a philosophical standpoint. This philosophical biography draws a portrait of the author that reveals the nuances of her character, clarifies the relationship between her life experiences and her lifework, and the philosophical thought that underlies both. This work will be essential reading to those interested in Black studies, women's studies, the Civil Rights and Black Arts movements, peace studies, the American South, philosophy, psychology, sociology, spirituality and New Age literature, and ecology and eco-feminism.

Provides insightful perspectives on negotiating our ever-changing and volatile world

Series Foreword by Joanne M. BraxtonAcknowledgmentsIntroductionSection I. EarthPoem: "There Are Bad Women Walking on the Planet Now" by Phyllis McEwenOne I Am the Earth..Two For Six Years I Do Not Look UpThree Everything ChangedFour A Spelman GirlFive On My Own TermsSection II. FirePoem: "A Message to Younger Sisters: Be Whole" by Phyllis McEwenSix I Would Only Be the PhilosopherSeven Changing the WorldEight Meridian: Coming of Age in MississippiNine Thought at the MeridianTen Truth Teller, Freedom WriterSection III. AirPoem: "The Clitoris Knows When and How" by Phyllis McEwenEleven Apologia: Honoring the DifficultTwelve Helped Are Those Who KnowThirteen A Woman of One's Own: Womanist Philosophy and Revitalization of the Sovereign FeminineFourteen The Sacred MasculineFifteen The Gnostic Gospel of My Father's SmileSection IV. WaterPoem: "My Body Is a Farm" (For My Son) by Phyllis McEwenSixteen Mbele AchéSeventeen Sub Rosa No Longer: Our Daughters Have MothersEighteen Absolute GoodnessNineteen Why War Is Never a Good IdeaTwenty We Are the OnesSection V. AetherPoem: "Little Girls" by Phyllis McEwenTwenty-One The Cathedral of the FutureTwenty-Two Caritas: The Greatest of TheseTwenty-Three OuroborosTwenty-Four "Alice" Is Old Greek for TruthTwenty-Five Lapis PhilosophorumNotesIndex