‘When you ask me about peace, Suwelo,’ said Miss Lissie, ‘if I’ve ever in all my lifetimes experienced peace, I am nearly perplexed. Could it be possible that after hundreds of lifetimes I have not known peace? That seems to be the fact. In lifetime after lifetime I have known oppression: from parents, siblings, relatives, governments, countries, continents. As well as from my own body and mind.’

The works of American writer Alice Walker, born this day in 1944 and perhaps best known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Color Purple (1982), are noted for their insightful treatment of African American culture.