"The Color Purple" is an in-depth portrait of life as a Black woman in Jim Crow America, but some schools have banned the book from its classrooms. Dozens of banned and challenged books have been adapted for the screen, and while they aren't all Oscar nominees, many are as beloved as the books. According to the Banned Books Project of Carnegie Mellon University, parents have been the primary culprits behind bans on "The Color Purple," having successfully pulled it from many school libraries since 1984.
The Politics and Prose Bookstore marks Oakland, California as home of the earliest challenge to the book's presence in schools. Here's how The Color Purple became one of the nation's most banned books. The Color Purple is a 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker that won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction.
[1][a] The novel has been the target of censors numerous times, and appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2000. Then, as if to provide an ideal case study, 1982 further saw the publication of Alice Walker's The Color Purple, a book which won Walker the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and status as one of America's most banned authors. Alice Walker, The Color Purple (Penguin, 2019).
The Color Purple by Alice Walker has been one of the most frequently challenged and banned books since its publication in 1982. Many schools and libraries in the United States have removed it from their shelves, mainly because of its explicit content, including depictions of sexual abuse, violence, and strong language. Current Status of The Color Purple's Availability "The Color Purple" has faced numerous challenges, but it is not universally banned.
Challenges are typically localized, occurring within specific school districts or public libraries. The book remains widely accessible across the United States. Banned Books Awareness: The Color Purple by Alice Walker Business themes in The Color Purple - I thought this was an interesting discussion of how business themes are portrayed in The Color Purple, especially in the context of the Great Depression.
The Color Purple is a 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker which won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction. The novel has been the frequent target of censors and appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2000.