A new 'Color Purple' adaptation hits theaters, returning author Alice Walker's history of antisemitism to spotlight

(JTA) - The bright, colorful movie musical "The Color Purple," which opens in theaters on Christmas, tells a story that has by now become a familiar part of the American canon - of a young Black woman's self-empowerment and discovery of her own sexuality amid the horrific, abusive conditions of her life in the early-1900s rural South.

It's far from the first time Americans have heard the story of Celie, the protagonist of Alice Walker's novel "The Color Purple." Walker's novel debuted in 1982 and received rave reviews, the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Three years later, it was a...