Alice WalkerAlice Walker, one of the best-known and most respected writers in the United States, was born in Eatonton, Georgia, the eighth and last child of Willie Lee and Minnie Lou Grant Walker. His parents were sharecroppers and money was not always as available as needed. At the tender age of eight, Walker lost the sight in one eye when one of her older brothers accidentally shot her with a BB gun. This left her somewhat depressed and isolated from the other children. Walker felt like she was no longer a little girl because of the traumatic experience she had experienced, and she was filled with shame because she thought she was unpleasant to look at. During this isolation from other children his age, Walker began writing poetry. Then her writing career began. Despite this tragedy in her life and feelings of inferiority, Walker became valedictorian of her class in high school and received a "rehabilitation scholarship" to attend Spelman. Spelman College was a black women's college in Atlanta, Georgia, not far from Walker's home. While at Spelman, Walker was involved in civil rights demonstrations in which she spoke out against the institution's silence in the curriculum when it came to African-American culture and history. His involvement in such activities led to his dismissal from the college. So she transferred to Sarah Lawrence College in New York and had the opportunity to travel to Africa as an exchange student. Upon his return, he earned his bachelor of arts degree from Sarah Lawrence College in 1965. He received a writing scholarship and intended to spend it in Senegal, West Africa, but his plans changed when he decided to take a job as a social worker in the New York City Welfare Department. Walker later moved to Tougaloo, Mississippi, during which time she became more involved in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. He used his own experiences and those of others as material for his searing examinations of politics. She also volunteered to work on the voter registration drive in Mississippi. Walker often admits that his decision not to accept the writing scholarship was based on the realization that he could never live happily in Africa or anywhere else until he could live freely in Mississippi. Walker found the love of his life in 1967, a white civil activist. human rights lawyer named Mel Leventhal, and they married 1967.