a biography of the day--madam c.j. walker
(LONG before there was mary kay ash, there was this remarkable woman)
Madam C. J. Walker Facts
Known for: first African American woman millionaire in America, inventor of the Walker System, supporter of entrepreneurs and economic success among African American women in setting up their own Walker hair care businesses
Occupation: inventor, saleswoman, business entrepreneur, business executive, philanthropist
Dates: December 23, 1867 - May 25, 1919
Also known as: Madame C. J. Walker, Sarah Breedlove, Sarah McWilliams, Sarah Breedlove Walker
Religion: African Methodist Episcopal Church
Organizations: National Association of Colored Women (NACW)
Family:
Sarah Breedlove, born to sharecroppers who had been slaves, worked herself in the cotton fields from early childhood. When she was orphaned at six years old, she went to live with her older sister Louvenia, who moved to Mississippi in 1878 after a yellow fever epidemic. Louvenia's husband was abusive to Sarah, who escaped the situation by marrying at fourteen.
Inspired at last, she claimed, by a dream which told her of a product from Africa that she could use, Sarah Breedlove McWilliams invented a secret formula for hair growth and began using it herself between 1900 and 1905. By 1905, she had begun preparing and selling the "Wonderful Hair Grower." She also adapted the hot comb of the day to have more widely-spaced teeth, to accommodate the coarser and heavier hair of African Americans.
The growth ointment, a hair oil, a psoriasis scalp treatment, and the hot comb became known as the "Walker System" to straighten hair of black women -- though Sarah always stressed the growth aspect over that of straightening. At a time when African American women were interacting with the "white world" more, the straightening product helped those women fit more into the "white world" image of what a woman should look like; it wasn't until the 1960s that black women began to widely question the idea of straightening black hair to "fit in."
. . . .
By 1908, Madam Walker had established Lelia College in Pittsburgh to train beauticians in using the Walker System. Lelia moved to Pittsburgh to manage the business in that area. When Madam C. J. Walker visited Indianapolis, she realized that its location and access to transportation systems made it the right place for company headquarters, and she moved the offices there. She built a manufacturing plant in Indianapolis at the headquarters, and added training and research facilities. She divorced Charles Walker in 1912.
. . . .
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/business/a/madam_walker.htm
. . . .
