Rebecca Walker

Early life and education

She was born Rebecca Leventhal in 1969 in Jackson, Mississippi, the daughter of Alice Walker, an African- American writer, whose work includes The Color Purple; and Mel Leventhal, who is Jewish American and a civil rights lawyer. Her parents had married in New York before going to Mississippi to work in civil rights. After her parents divorced in 1976, Rebecca spent her childhood alternating every two years between her father's home in the largely Jewish Riverdale section of the Bronx in New York City, and her mother's largely African-American environment in San Francisco. She attended The Urban School of San Francisco.

When she was 15, Rebecca decided to change her surname from Leventhal to Walker, her mother's surname. After high school, she studied at Yale University, where she graduated cum laude in 1992. Rebecca identifies as black, white, and Jewish, which is also the title of her memoir, published in 2001.

Emergence as a leader in feminism

Walker first emerged as a prominent feminist at age 22 when she wrote an article for Ms. magazine titled "Becoming the Third Wave". In her article, Walker criticizes the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas after he was accused of sexually harassing Anita Hill, an attorney he supervised during his time at the Department of Education and the EEOC. Using this example, Walker addresses the oppression of the female voice and introduces the concept of Third Wave Feminism. Walker defines "third wave feminism" at the end of the article by saying "To be a feminist is to integrate an ideology of equality and female empowerment into the very fiber of life. It is to search for personal clarity in the midst of systemic destruction, to join in sisterhood with women when often we are divided, to understand power structures with the intention of challenging them."

The Third Wave Fund

After graduating from Yale University, she co-founded the Third Wave Fund, a non-profit organization aimed at encouraging young women to get involved in activism and leadership roles. The organization’s initial mission, based on Walker’s article, was to "fill a void in young women’s leadership and to mobilize young people to become more involved socially and politically in their communities." In its first year, the organization initiated a campaign that registered more than 20,000 new voters across the United States. The organization now provides grants to individuals and projects that support young women. The fund was adapted as The Third Wave Foundation in 1997 and continues to support young activists. In the wake of the November 2016 presidential election in the United States, the organization received more than four times the normal number of requests for emergency grants.

Teaching

Walker views teaching as a way to give people the strength to speak the truth, to change perspectives, and to empower people with the ability to change the world. She lectures on writing memoirs, multi-generational feminism, diversity in the media, multi-racial identity, contemporary visual arts and emerging cultures.

Speaking

Walker concentrates on speaking about multi-cultural identity (including her own), enlightened masculinity, and inter-generational and third-wave feminism at high schools, universities and conferences around the world. She has spoken at Harvard, Exeter, Head Royce, Oberlin, Smith, MIT, Xavier, and Stanford. She has also addressed various organizations and corporations such as The National Council of Teachers of English, the Walker Art Center, the American Association of University Women, the National Women's Studies Association, Out and Equal, the National Organization for Women, and Hewitt Associates. Within the United States, she has been featured on various popular media outlets such as Good Morning America, Oprah, and Charlie Rose.

Major works

Her first major work was the book To be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Face of Feminism (1996), which consisted of articles that Walker compiled and edited. The book re-evaluated the feminist movement of the time. Reviewer Emilie Fale, an Assistant Professor of Communication at Ithaca College, described it: "The twenty-three contributors in To Be Real offer varied perspectives and experiences that challenge our stereotypes of feminist beliefs as they negotiate the troubled waters of gender roles, identity politics and "power feminism". As a collection of "personal testimonies", this work shows how third wave activists use personal narratives to describe their experiences with social and gender injustice. Contributors to the work include prominent feminists such as bell hooks and Naomi Wolf. According to Walker's website, this book has been taught in Gender Studies programs around the world.

In her memoir, Black, White and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self (2000), Walker explores her early years in Mississippi as the child of parents who were active in the later years of the Civil Rights Movement. She also touches on living with two parents with very active careers, which she believes led to their separation. She discusses encountering racial prejudice and the difficulties of being mixed race in a society with rigid cultural barriers. She also discusses developing her sexuality and identity as a bisexual woman.

Her memoir Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood After A Lifetime of Ambivalence (2007), explores her life with a stepson and biological son, against a framework of feminism. She discusses traditional pregnancy topics, such as diet and preparing for labor. Given Walker's own experience, she encourages young women to understand that motherhood is possible even when they have a career or if they resist it because of having had a difficult childhood. She says that the book addresses the 'work versus motherhood' trade-off that women of her generation and younger face after growing up in a social landscape that believes women must make a choice in order to have children. She said that she was inspired to write the book by the birth of her own son, Tenzin. Her rearing of him has changed some of her views on motherhood and family bonds.

Walker was a contributing editor to Ms. magazine for many years. Her writing has been published in a range of magazines, such as Harper's, Essence, Glamour, Interview, Buddhadharma, Vibe, Child, and Mademoiselle magazines. She has appeared on CNN and MTV, and has been covered in The New York Times, Chicago Times, Esquire, Shambhala Sun, among others. Walker has taught workshops on writing at international conferences and MFA programs. She also works as a private publishing consultant.

Her first novel, Adé: A Love Story (2013). It features a biracial college student named Farida who falls in love with Adé, a black Kenyan man. While the young couple plan to marry, their plans are interrupted when Farida gets malaria and the two must struggle through a civil war in Kenya. The novel was generally well received by critics and lay people alike.

Complete list of works:

Film

In the 1998 film Primary Colors, Walker played the character March. The movie is a roman à clef about Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign.

In March 2014, the film rights for Adé: A Love Story (2013) were reported to have been optioned, with Madonna to serve as director.

Awards

Walker has also received an Honorary Doctorate from the North Carolina School of the Arts.

Walker is featured in The Advocate's "Forty under 40" issue of June/July 2009 as one of the most influential "out" media professionals.

In 2016, she was selected as one of BBC's 100 Women.

Personal life

Walker identifies as bisexual. She had a relationship with neo-soul musician Meshell Ndegeocello, whose son she has helped raise even after the adults had separated.

At the age of 37, she became pregnant during her relationship with her partner Glen, a Buddhist teacher. They had a son together named Tenzin, born in 2007.