Before Oprah became one of the first African American billionaires, Madam C.J. Walker turned a “dream” into a million dollar business venture. Sarah Breedlove aka Madam C.J. Walker was born in Louisiana in 1867. After being widowed in 1887 as a result of a mob lynching, Madam C.J. Walker and her daughter moved to Missouri. While in Missouri the stress of working multiple jobs to make a loving was taking its toll on Madam Walker, in particular she was experiencing hair loss at an alarming rate. According to legend, one night Sarah had the following vision” “big Black man appeared to me and told me what to mix up for my hair. Some of the remedy was grown in Africa, but I sent for it, put it on my scalp, and in a few weeks my hair was coming in faster than it had ever fallen out.” After trying out the homemade brew on herself and then her friends, Madam Walker decided to quit her jobs and start her own business.
In 1906 she married C.J. Walker and between his marketing skills and Madam Walker’s hair products a new business, Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company; was formed to mass produce these products. Word spread throughout the black community like wildfire and by 1917 Madam Walker had the largest African-American business in the US. Her accomplishments are numerous as she saw her wealth not as a means to an end, but instead as a way to provide for other African Americans and in particular a way to promote fellow female African American entrepreneurs.
Quick facts:
- Guinness Book of World Records listed her as the 1st Female Millionaire whose money was earned by her own achievements.
- Opened her own college to train sales workforce
- Sales force was in excess of 1000 agents
- Sales force earned on average $5 to $15 dollars/day
- 2/3 of her fortune went to philanthropy upon her death
- In 1992 she was enshrined into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame
- Commemorated with a USPS stamp in 1998 as part of the Black Heritage Series
- Built an estate (Villa Lewaro) next to fellow giants of the time including John Rockefeller and Jay Gould.
- Gave the task of designing Villa Lewaro to Vertner Tandy whom was the 1st registered African American Architect of New York.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madam_C._J._Walker & http://www.blackinventor.com/pages/cj-walker.html
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Thank you Ms. Bundles. I would also urge our readers to check out the book you’ve written (http://madamcjwalker.com/shop.aspx) to learn much more about this great African American woman.
Thank you for helping to keep out history alive.
Thanks for you Black History Month posts about Garrett Morgan, Andrew Jackson Beard, George Crum and Madam C. J. Walker. I had never heard of Crum and was happy to learn about him. I would especially like to thank you for mentioning Madam Walker. As her biographer and great-great-granddaughter, I’m always happy when others share her story.
Just wanted to let you know that her birth name was Sarah Breedlove and that her sister’s name was Louvenia Breedlove. Also, although some sources have claimed that her first husband was lynched or killed by a mob, there really is no evidence to support that claim.
I hope your readers will visit our website at http://www.madamcjwalker.com to learn even more about her.
A’Lelia Bundles
http://www.madamcjwalker.com