Entrepreneur, philanthropist, and activist.
Born: 23 December 1867, Delta, Louisiana, United States
In 1865, three quarters of the United States of America ratified the 13th amendment, formally adopting it into the constitution ensuring that:
“neither slavery nor involuntary servitude… shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
But that did not mean the end of persecution for those who had been displaced by the slave trade nor did it mean a greater level of freedom or equality for their descendents. The Jim Crow laws found their roots in the ratification of the 13th amendment, this was a racial caste system that found its name in a derogatory line from a song. Though they operated primarily but not exclusively in the Southern States, the laws were enough to relegate African-American citizens to second class status. Jim Crow was the legitimisation of the racial prejudice held against those who were black. They dictated how an African american could work and for how much pay, effectively reducing those who had been freed back to indentured servitude.
America, the land of the free, was effectively stacking its cards against its African American systems. They could not expect the same level of life, liberty and prosperity that was afforded. They could not expect the same level of justice and often acts committed against the black community went unpunished.
Madam C. J Walker was born Sarah Breedlove on the 23rd of December 1967 to Owen and Minerva Anderson Breedlove. She was one of six children born to former slaves turned sharecroppers, her siblings had been born on the wrong side of emancipation but Sarah was the first sibling to be born free. However in a cruel twist of fate, Sarah found herself at seven years old; toiling in the cotton fields. At age 14 she married Moses Mcwilliams at fourteen to escape an abusive family member but found herself a widow at age twenty with one child.
To escape the poverty of the world she lived in, Sarah moved to Missouri in 1889 and began working as a laundress and a cook, living close to her four brothers who had become barbers. Sarah’s early life echoed an oh too normal story of a young black woman living in America at the time.
It was at this time she also joined an Episcopal church and met successful and educated black men and women whose success inspired Sarah to think about her of future. It was also around this time that she remarried but the marriage was troubled and ultimately short lived. At this time, during a period of financial struggle, facing hair loss and a body aching from years of hard physical labour - her life turned in 1904. That year she discovered a product by African-American Businesswoman Annie ‘Turbo’ Malone’s - "The Great Wonderful Hair Grower” and became a member of Malone’s sales team. A year later, she moved to Denver, Colorado and met her third husband, Charles Walker and took up the name ‘Madam C.J Walker’ and began her business of hair products and straighteners for African American women with $1.25 in her pocket.
Her method was revolutionary, she built a haircare system that involved scalp preperation, lotions and iron combs; a method which became known as the ‘Walker method’. Her method was tailored for African-americans, and she distinguished her advertising and method from those marketed to white americans as a result. Her charm and personal approach won many of her clients over and eventually when she built up a fleet of saleswomen, they too were African-american women just like Walker had been when she first started on this path.
Walker created an industry which became a foundation for african-american women whom had been in the same situation she had been, living in poverty with what seemed little to no options to rise out of that status. In 1908, after training her agents in her method, she settled in Pittsburgh and opened a beauty school named after her daughter but two years later, drawn by the booming african-american business in Indianapolis - she relocated her headquarters there.
Her impact is undeniable at this time. Women who would have been before, resigned to menial work for little pay as maids, farmhands, cooks and laundresses could now work for an employer who knew the life they had led and gave them an opportunity to pursue a better one. After expanding internationally, walker claimed that she had twenty five thousand and counting saleswomen working for her by 1919. She was known as a generous employer. Creating clubs for her employees and offering rewards to those who contributed positively to their community. She promoted black excellence and those within her company earned healthy commission for their work and made sure everyone had access to full training within the company.
She was also a philanthropist, contributing heavily to various works as her own wealth increased. Walker made numerous contributions to the YMCA, paid for tuition for six African americans hoping to attend Tuskegee institute and became an ardent supporter of the anti-lynching movement; donating large amounts of money to the NAACP. Even after her premature death, she gave heavily to charitable institutions in her will as well as thousands of dollars to schools and individuals.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/slavery-abolished-in-america
https://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/what.htm
https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws
https://www.mcjwbeautyculture.com/
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/100-amazing-facts/madam-walker-the-first-black-american-woman-to-be-a-self-made-millionaire/
https://www.biography.com/inventor/madam-cj-walker
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/madame-c-j-walker
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/madam-cj-walker
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Madam-C-J-Walker
