Will Watson Mural Forms a Bridge to the Past - Megan M. Geurts
Check out a blog I wrote of the Madam Walker Theater in Downtown Indianapolis. http://www.walkertheatre.com/blog/will-watsons-mural-forms-a-bridge-to-the-past
In case you do not know what the Walker Theater is, here's a quick history about this historical building and area.
The Walker building sits on Indiana Avenue, a strip of road that once stretched through downtown. Indiana Avenue was an area where the African American community could work, eat, and enjoy entertainment without the woes and worries of segregation at the turn of the 20th Century. In time, African-American professionals joined the Indiana Avenue business community, completing the range of services available. Dentists, doctors, attorneys, restaurants and the like. Furthering the region’s growth as an African-American hub, the Great Migration of the early 1900s brought thousands of African Americans to Indiana, specifically to the area around Indiana Avenue.
The theater is named after Madam C.J. Walker whose story is amazing. She overcame her harsh poverty uprising and became the first self-made female millionaire with her line of successful hair products. She moved her business to downtown Indianapolis in 1910 and trained young women to sell her products, helping them to become independent.
Madam Walker began developing the Walker Building prior to her death in 1919. The four-story flatiron building originally was planned as the corporate headquarters and factory for the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company. However the Walker theater opened in 1927 after Madam C.J. Walker's death by her daughter and was used for black businesses including a 1500 seat theater.
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