Inez Nathaniel Walker was born in a poor family in the South of the United States. Very young she lost her parents; at the age of sixteen she was married by force and gave birth to four children. During the great migration of the 1930s she moved to Philadelphia to escape the misery of the agricultural world. She worked for a time in a canning factory which fired her following a strike. Since then she travelled from town to town in search of work. In 1960 after killing a man who probably wanted to abuse her, she was condemned to a heavy sentence. In prison she began to draw and met Elizabeth Bayley, remedial English teacher who encouraged her in her work. She represented essentially very elegant women. On leaving the prison in 1972, she could finally enjoy some recognition thanks to the exhibitions of her works and benefit from their sale.