Homecoming for Alice Walker in Eatonton, GA
Alice Walker, the first African-American female writer to win a Pulitzer Prize for Literature, came home to Eatonton, Georgia on Saturday, July 13 to a public celebration of her 75th birthday year.
I joyfully attended the sold-out Alice Walker 75, an event of welcome, inclusion, and openness. The kind of day where you sit with strangers and make new friends, where you alternately beam with joy and cry with the type of happiness that comes with the feeling that, here, in Alice Walker’s calm presence, all is right in this little corner of the world.
Walker was the eighth child of sharecroppers born and raised in Eatonton, a sleepy, segregated middle Georgia town that she left after being awarded a scholarship to Spelman College in Atlanta. As Valedictorian and Homecoming Queen at the all-black Butler-Baker High School, she was well aware of class divisions and racism in her native Georgia, which inspired the activist spirit in her soul.
Despite loving relationships with her family and friends, Walker consciously put Eatonton in her rearview mirror. Her participation in Alice Walker 75 marked her first official connection to the town since 1986 when Eatonton hosted a premiere of the film The Color Purple (based on her award-winning book by the same name).
Walker and Valerie Boyd during their conversation
The Saturday, July 13, 2019 celebration was a first-class affair organized by both locals and several Atlantans, including co-chairs Valerie Boyd, UGA journalism professor and author of Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston, and Lou Benjamin, co-founder of the Briar Patch Arts Council of Eatonton. It was presented by the Georgia Writers Museum and many sponsors.
Being a busy weekend in the middle of summer, none of my friends were available to join me. So, I bought myself the full-day ticket and secretly cherished an opportunity to take it all in without any distractions.
As soon as I drove into the quiet downtown, the sight of street banners welcoming Walker and her guests immediately brought tears to my eyes. How far we’ve come, I thought, from my early career days with Georgia Tourism promoting the Uncle Remus Museum and Rock Eagle. While those are still beloved, it feels like the town has come full circle toward its authentic identity.
I walked the block full of storefronts in downtown Eatonton, where each was decked in purple clothing, balloons, ribbons and photos of Walker. One storefront displayed copies of Walker’s books, 60s female artist album covers (Roberta Flack’s First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Janis Ian’s debut album) and Walker quotes incorporated into handmade art.
As I meandered down the block and east to the Plaza Arts Center, host location of most activities, the red carpet welcome could not have been more evident, from a sign pointing to free event parking at the Methodist Church to nature doing its part with a profusion of purple Passion Flowers in bloom at the gorgeous Victorian home across the street.
I made my way inside the beautifully refurbished Arts Center, once a school, where an abundance of local volunteers in brightly graphic event T-shirts made the check-in line short and friendly.
When we bought our tickets, guests were given a choice of sold-out area bus tours or a documentary film showing. Those who know me well can probably guess which choice I made, to see the 2010 documentary Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth followed by a conversation with filmmaker Pratibha Parmar. The exceptional documentary brought forth much emotion from the audience. I highly recommend watching it; you can stream it for $9.99 on Vimeo.
After the film, I took my bagged lunch outside and invited myself to sit with perfect strangers, who turned out to be a diverse group of new friends I hope will stay in touch. I met the retired Emeritus Professor of History at Georgia College & State University and his wife, along with another Georgia College professor who was the main tour guide volunteer, and two Atlanta women in their 50s who have been friends since high school in New Orleans.
Attendees with Rebecca Walker (2nd from left) and her father Melvyn Leventhal
Among the many things I learned from my new friends is that there is an entire track of study at Georgia College based on the history and works of Alice Walker. I may have to enroll!
While my observation was that there were more African-American women over age 50 in attendance than any other demographic, the crowd was a healthy mix of black, brown and white: young people, elderly folk, and area residents more apparent by their attire which ranged from seersucker jackets and pressed khakis for the men to specially-made Butler-Baker High School T-shirts worn by Ms. Walker’s friends. The latter gesture was a complete surprise to her. The shouts, screams and hugs when her friends spotted her in the auditorium left few dry eyes in the room.
During the afternoon, an accomplished group of writers and performers paid tribute to Walker as she sat in her namesake boxed seats in the Arts Center auditorium. Violinist and writer Melanie Hill got the entire crowd, including Walker, moving in their seats with her stirring opening of Stevie Wonder’s “As.”
Walker’s biographer Evelyn White, Atlantan Tayari Jones, author of the bestselling 2018 novel An American Marriage; Agnes Scott College poetry professor and author Kamilah Aisha Moon; Daniel Black, novelist and Clark Atlanta University professor; and Walker’s daughter, writer/activist Rebecca Walker, all touched me deeply with their poignant choices of Walker’s poetry and book passages. At one point, my seatmate handed me a wad of tissues. Maybe it was when Rebecca read “We have a beautiful mother,” crying as she struggled to get those five words out.
Walker’s 14-year-old grandson, Tenzin, capped the tribute with his polished piano performance of a song he composed just for the event, which visibly moved both Walker and her daughter.
Later in the day, Walker seemed happily surprised yet again when her former husband, noted Civil and Voting Rights Attorney Melvyn Leventhal, and Margaret Avery, the actress who played Shug Avery in The Color Purple, both offered champagne toasts to her.
It’s Not a Party Unless You Dance
Walker and Valerie Boyd during their conversation
Following the last event, a no-holds-barred conversation between Walker and Valerie Boyd, we all got a fun surprise – an invitation to join Walker and Boyd on stage, and as Walker said, “it’s not a party if there’s no dancing.” Around 100 of the 500 guests, myself included, took her up on the offer. Walker’s curated song choices: Rock Steady by Aretha Franklin and As by Stevie Wonder. You may find evidence on the Instagram hashtag #AW75!
No one that I interacted with left this event with anything but happy feelings and I’m still experiencing the Alice Walker high.
I met a 36-year-old Political Science professor at Georgia College, Claire Sanders, who grew up in neighboring Greene County. Like my own, her joy was apparent. “This event is renewing my sense of hope for this area, for Georgia,” Sanders said. “Things are changing for the better here and being in the presence of Ms. Walker and having others see the inclusivity today is a highlight of my life.”
One of the organizers shared with me that the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department deputy, a white male, stationed outside the Arts Center said that, despite having to change his uniform three times due to the heat, he wanted to convey that it was one of the most meaningful events of his career.
Daniel Black made many of us laugh when he said, “She did not wait to die to be ancestral.” Indeed, Ms. Walker offered nearly 700 of us a wide-open look into her life, her family and her writing process.
What a gift she, the organizers and 119 volunteers gave to us! Happy 75th to my favorite American writer!
Rose Scott of Closer Look on WABE/90.1 FM interviewing author Tayari Jones
Read Atlanta Magazine’s story on Alice Walker 75 here!
