Madam C.J. Walker: A Self-Made Millionaire

While watching a documentary in class about Jim Crow laws and discrimination faced by African Americans, a woman named Madam C.J. Walker was briefly mentioned. So, to keep on track with my other posts about important and underrated women in history, I decided to some more research about her.

Madam C.J. Walker, born Sarah Breedlove, is generally acknowledged as the first black female millionaire in the United States. Walker was born on December 23, 1867 on the same cotton plantation where her parents, Owen and Minerva Anderson Breedlove were enslaved before the Civil War. She was orphaned at age seven and married at 14 to escape the abuse of her brother-in-law. At age 20, her husband, Moses McWilliams died and she moved with her daughter to St. Louis, where her older brothers were barbers.

In order to support herself and her daughter, Walker worked as a poorly paid washerwoman for more than a decade. She also joined St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Chruch where she sang in the choir and was mentored by members of the National Association of Colored Women. It was at this time that she began experimenting with her own formula to cure scalp infections that caused baldness. For about two years, she was a sales agent for Annie Turnbo, the founder of the Poro Company. After being sent to Denver by Turnbo in 1905, she worked as a cook for a pharmacist, from whom she learned the basic chemistry needed for her to perfect an ointment that healed dandruff and other hygiene-related ailments common during that time given the fact that most Americans lacked indoor plumbing. A year later, she married Charles Joseph Walker and began achieving local success with what would become known as the "Walker Method" or the "Walker System of Beauty Culture."

In 1908, after two years of training Walker agents and "beauty culturists" throughout the southern and eastern United States, Walker and her husband settled in Pittsburgh, where she opened the Lelia College of Beauty Culture, a school named after her daughter. Drawn to the railroad hub of Indianapolis, she relocated the headquarters of the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company there in 1910.

From there, she continued to develop her business by traveling across the US and providing career opportunities and economic independence for thousands of African American women who otherwise would have been consigned to jobs as maids, cooks, laundresses, and farmhands. These women became saleswomen and sold Walker's products door to door. In addition to door-to-door sales, Walker sold via mail order and also demonstrated her products in churches, schools, and other gathering places. She took lessons in public speaking and penmanship, and cultivated a striking public persona, she appeared in fine clothing and a chauffeur-driven electric carriage. In 1913, she expanded internationally when she visited the Caribbean and Central America. Six years later, she had 25,000 active Walker sales agents.

Walker also established herself as a philanthropist, most notably, with her $1,000 gift to the African American Young Men's Christian Association building fund in Indianapolis in 1911 and her $5,000 contributed to the NAACP's anti-lynching fund in 1919. Walker also provided scholarships for students at several black colleges and boarding schools and also contributed financial support to orphanages, retirement homes, and the fund to preserve Frederick Douglass's home. She was also active politically, speaking out against lynching at the Negro Silent Protest Parade and during a visit to the White House in 1917 as well as advocating for the rights of African American soldiers that served in France during WWI.

Madam C.J. Walker died of hypertension on May 25, 1919, at age 51. At the time of her death, Walker was the sole owner of her business that was valued at more than $1 million. Her personal fortune was believed to be between $600,000 and $700,000 In 1927, the Walker Building, an arts center that she had begun working on before her death, was opened in Indianapolis. It is now a registered National Historic Landmark. In 1998, the United States Postal Service created a stamp of Madam C.J. Walker as part of its "Black Heritage" series.

Though her philanthropic efforts are inspiring it is her story of success that makes her a truly remarkable figure in history. Despite all the obstacles set in her way by being both a woman and a person of color, Walker was able to transcend it all and become an entirely self-made millionaire. She believed and preached that black people could lift themselves up by developing skills, working hard, and emphasizing good character. Madam C.J. Walker is a perfect representation of this belief.

Sources:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/walker_hi.html
https://www.biography.com/people/madam-cj-walker-9522174
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Madam-C-J-Walker