On this day in 1944, author Alice Walker was born in Eatonton, Georgia.

On this day in 1944, author Alice Walker was born in Eatonton, Georgia.

Feb. 9, 1944 Credit: Courtesy of Warner Brothers Alice Walker, novelist and poet, was born the eighth child born to sharecroppers in Eatonton, Georgia.  During her youth, she was accidentally blinded in one eye, and her mother gave her a typewriter, which enabled her to write. She studied at Spelman College and Sarah Lawrence College, receiving a scholarship to study in Paris. She turned it down to go instead in 1965 to Mississippi, where she jo…