The Color Purple
by Alice Walker
33 jurisdictions · Banned 1984-2025 · Published
The Color Purple is Alice Walker's 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about Celie, a Black woman in early-twentieth-century rural Georgia, banned or restricted in 33+ U.S. jurisdictions since its publication.
Why it was banned
The novel has been challenged since the mid-1980s, often for its frank depictions of sexual violence and for the same-sex relationship between two of its characters. It was one of the most-challenged books of the 1990s and 2000s and remains regularly contested.
Cited reasons
- sexual content
- homosexuality
- violence
- language
Primary states
California, Tennessee, Florida, Texas
Why it matters
The Color Purple won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award. Walker became the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer for fiction. The novel's epistolary form, structured as letters to God, transformed how American literature could depict Black women's interior lives. The 1985 Steven Spielberg film adaptation brought the story to mainstream audiences.
Themes
- Black womanhood
- rural South
- sexuality
- American classics
Awards
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1983)
- National Book Award (1983)
Where to buy
The Ledger recommends Black-owned booksellers. Each stocks this title or can order it.
- MahoganyBooksNational Harbor, Maryland · Founded
Independent bookstore specializing in books written for, by, and about people of the African diaspora.
- Marcus BooksOakland, California · Founded
The oldest independent Black-owned bookstore in the United States, named for political activist Marcus Garvey.
- Semicolon Bookstore and GalleryChicago, Illinois · Founded
Chicago's only Black woman-owned independent bookstore, with a mission to raise literacy rates among Chicago Public School students.
- Harriett's BookshopPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania · Founded
Named for Harriet Tubman, focusing on women authors, artists, and activists.
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Related banned books
Books in the catalog that share themes with this one.
Documented by The Ledger. A record of what Black America built and what was taken.
Book cover via Open Library. Editorial use under fair use.