---
title: "Alice Walker — AP African American Studies Definition"
description: "Alice Walker coined \"womanist\" in the 1980s, a framework centering Black women's experiences. Key to Topic 4.13 alongside the Combahee River Collective."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/alice-walker"
type: "key-term"
subject: "AP African American Studies"
unit: "Unit 4"
---

# Alice Walker — AP African American Studies Definition

## Definition

Alice Walker is the writer who coined the term "womanist" in the 1980s, naming a framework that builds on earlier Black women's activism by opposing both racism within feminist spaces and sexism within Black communities (Topic 4.13, AP African American Studies).

## What It Is

Alice Walker is a celebrated Black writer who, in the early 1980s, gave the [Black feminist movement](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-4/13-black-feminist-movement-womanism-and-intersectionality/study-guide/hflrqrysG5O7jMOP "fv-autolink") a name of its own. The word she coined was **[womanist](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/womanist "fv-autolink")**. A womanist framework centers Black women's specific experiences and pushes back in two directions at once. It challenges racism inside mainstream (mostly white) feminist spaces, and it challenges sexism inside Black political communities.

For [AP African American Studies](/ap-african-american-studies "fv-autolink"), Walker matters less as a novelist and more as a concept-builder. Her term "womanist" did not appear out of nowhere. It built on a long line of Black women's activism stretching back to Jarena Lee, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Tubman in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and to 1970s Black feminists like the Combahee River Collective who insisted that Black women face racism and sexism simultaneously. Walker's contribution was giving that tradition a single, usable word.

## Why It Matters

Alice Walker lives in **Topic 4.13 (The Black Feminist Movement, Womanism, and Intersectionality)** in **[Unit 4](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-4 "fv-autolink"): Movements and Debates**. She supports learning objective **4.13.A**, which asks you to explain how the twentieth-century Black feminist movement drew inspiration from earlier [Black women's activism](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/black-womens-activism "fv-autolink"). Walker is one of your clearest examples of that continuity. Per EK 4.13.A.1, the 1970s and 80s Black feminist movement looked back to activists like Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman who resisted oppression as enslaved and free women. Walker's "womanist" puts a name on that inheritance. If an exam question asks how late twentieth-century Black feminism connects to earlier struggles, Walker and womanism are evidence you can deploy directly.

## Connections

### [Womanist (Unit 4)](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/womanist)

This is the term Walker actually coined, so know them as a pair. Walker is the person; womanism is the framework. A womanist analysis centers Black women and fights [racism](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-4/1-the-ngritude-and-negrismo-movements/study-guide/eK9QyiGxxk1iteQm "fv-autolink") in feminist movements and sexism in Black communities at the same time.

### [Combahee River Collective (Unit 4)](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/combahee-river-collective)

This 1970s Black feminist group laid the groundwork Walker built on. Their 1977 Collective Statement argued that Black women's oppressions are interlocking, and they named themselves after [Harriet Tubman](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/harriet-tubman "fv-autolink")'s Combahee River raid that freed over 700 enslaved people. Same lineage, earlier link in the chain.

### [Kimberlé Crenshaw (Unit 4)](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/kimberle-crenshaw)

Crenshaw coined "[intersectionality](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-2/14-freedom-womens-rights-and-education/study-guide/bp2sHi0HFb0u4pX4 "fv-autolink")," the other big framework in Topic 4.13. Walker's womanism and Crenshaw's intersectionality are sibling concepts. Both analyze how Black women's racial, gender, and economic identities interact with systems of oppression, but they are different terms from different thinkers.

### [Black women's activism (Unit 4)](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/black-womens-activism)

Walker is the payoff of a long story. Jarena Lee preached against exclusion, Sojourner Truth demanded recognition of Black womanhood, and Tubman freed hundreds. Walker's "womanist" gives that entire tradition a name, which is exactly the continuity LO 4.13.A wants you to explain.

## On the AP Exam

Walker shows up most often in straightforward identification questions, like "Who coined the term 'womanist' in the 1980s?" That one is free points if you know the name. The harder questions test whether you can place her in context. Expect MCQs that describe a framework analyzing how Black women's racial, gender, and economic identities interact with oppression, and ask you to name it (womanism or intersectionality, depending on the wording). On free-response questions, Walker works as evidence for continuity arguments. If you're asked how the Black feminist movement drew on earlier activism, you can argue that Walker's womanism explicitly built on the legacy of figures like Sojourner Truth and groups like the Combahee River Collective. Don't just name-drop her; explain what "womanist" does as a framework.

## Alice Walker vs Kimberlé Crenshaw

Both women named a major Black feminist framework, and both live in Topic 4.13, so they get swapped constantly. Alice Walker coined "womanist" in the 1980s, a framework centering Black women that challenges racism in feminist spaces and sexism in Black communities. Kimberlé Crenshaw, a legal scholar, coined "intersectionality," which analyzes how overlapping identities (race, gender, class) interact with systems of oppression. Quick check for MCQs: Walker goes with womanist, Crenshaw goes with intersectionality.

## Key Takeaways

- Alice Walker coined the term "womanist" in the 1980s to name a framework centered on Black women's experiences.
- Womanism opposes two things at once: racism within feminist spaces and sexism within Black communities.
- Walker's framework built on earlier Black women's activism, from Jarena Lee, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Tubman to the 1970s Black feminist movement.
- Walker supports LO 4.13.A, which asks you to explain how twentieth-century Black feminism drew inspiration from earlier Black women activists.
- On the exam, keep Walker (womanist) and Kimberlé Crenshaw (intersectionality) straight; they are related but distinct frameworks from different thinkers.

## FAQs

### Who is Alice Walker in AP African American Studies?

Alice Walker is the writer who coined the term "womanist" in the 1980s, naming a framework that centers Black women and challenges both racism in feminist spaces and sexism in Black communities. She appears in Topic 4.13 of Unit 4.

### Did Alice Walker invent Black feminism?

No. Black feminism predates Walker by centuries, tracing back through activists like Jarena Lee, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Tubman, and the 1970s Black feminist movement including the Combahee River Collective. Walker's contribution was coining "womanist" in the 1980s to name that tradition.

### What's the difference between Alice Walker and Kimberlé Crenshaw?

Walker coined "womanist," a framework centering Black women's experiences against racism and sexism. Crenshaw coined "intersectionality," which analyzes how race, gender, and class identities interact with systems of oppression. Both are in Topic 4.13, but the terms and thinkers are distinct.

### What does womanist mean?

Womanist is Alice Walker's term for a framework that builds on earlier Black women's activism by opposing racism within feminist (largely white-led) spaces and sexism within Black communities. It centers Black women's unique experience of facing both forms of oppression at once.

### Is Alice Walker on the AP African American Studies exam?

Yes. She's part of Topic 4.13 (The Black Feminist Movement, Womanism, and Intersectionality) under LO 4.13.A. Expect identification questions about who coined "womanist" and broader questions linking womanism to earlier Black women's activism.

## Related Study Guides

- [4.13 The Black Feminist Movement, Womanism, and Intersectionality](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-4/13-black-feminist-movement-womanism-and-intersectionality/study-guide/hflrqrysG5O7jMOP)

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