
Madam C.J. Walker
hair care mogul
Orphaned at the age of 7 and widowed by 20, Sarah Breedlove was forced to become an expert at fending for herself and her daughter. Going from a dollar-a-day washer woman to a cosmetics mogul who formulated her own world-famous hair products, Sarah transformed herself into the magnificent + munificent Madame C.J. Walker.
Her brilliant marketing schemes were not mere self-promotion ~ she also worked tirelessly to provide professional opportunities for women and secure civil rights for all people. She died the wealthiest African-American woman, willing 2/3 of future profits to charity, a legacy lovingly carried on by her family.
entrepreneurship | she started her beauty business in 1906 with $1.50…she died a millionaire
philanthropy | from personal loans to large-scale donations, given to causes that benefited African Americans during the height of racism + oppression following the Civil War
The Walker Method of Hair Culture | for Madam CJ, it wasn't just about a single product, it was about cultivating a beauty culture that gave working + black women dignity, independence + good health, allowing them to realize their "glorious womanhood"
mentorship | through recruiting a national sales force of women she rescued from the wash-tub and training "beauty culturists" at her string of schools starting with Pittsburgh's Lelia College, founded in 1908
1906 | invented and sold door-to-door her first product, Madam CJ's Wonderful Hair Grower, a scalp-soothing formula that came to her in a dream as a solution to her own thinning hair
1910 | established her business headquarters and factory in the thriving manufacturing center of Indianapolis and would incorporate Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company in Indiana the following year {with her owning all 1000 shares}
1917 | held her first national convention for Madam C.J. Walker sales agents in Philadelphia and hired an African-American architect to design her palatial New York estate where she would host many famous black leaders of the Harlem Renaissance
from | to
share cropper, washer woman and cook | America's first female self-made millionaire and the "greatest benefactress of her race"
born on
December 23, 1867
~ soon after the Emancipation Proclamation ~
born in
Delta, Louisiana
~ on Madison Parish Plantation ~
birth name
Sarah Breedlove
citizen of
The United States of America
daughter of
Owen + Minerva Breedlove
~ cotton share croppers and former slaves ~
sister of
1 older sister | Louvenia
4 older brothers | Alexander, James, Solomon + Owen Jr.
educated at | studied with
received no formal education
married to | divorced from
Moses McWilliams
~ married 1881 - 1887, when he passed away ~
Charles Joseph Walker
~ married 1906 - 1908 ~
~ a sales agent for an African-American newspaper whose name and background in advertising helped her market her hair product ~
~ the name stuck, the marriage did not ~
+ one brief marriage in between...
mother of
A'Lelia Walker
~ future president of the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company ~
advocate for
civil rights
women's financial and social empowerment
anti-lynching campaigns
NAACP
died on
May 25, 1919
~ at her newly built estate, Villa Lewaro, in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York ~
image credit
Scurlock Studios | Smithsonian Institution Research Information System | public domain
collapse bio bits"Worth more than it Costs"
marketing campaign for Mme C.J. Walker's Preparations for the Hair | 1906
"Surely you are not going to shut the door in my face. I feel that I am in a business that is a credit to the womanhood of our race."
The Thirteenth Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League | august 1912
"I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South; I was promoted from there to the washtub; then I was promoted to the cook kitchen, and from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations."
Thirteenth Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League | august 1912
"I am not ashamed of my past; I am not ashamed of my humble beginning. Don't think that because you have to go down in the wash-tub that you are any less a lady!"
Thirteenth Annual National Negro Business League convention | august 1912
"Now I realize that in the so-called higher walks of life, many were prone to look down upon 'hair dressers' as they called us; they didn't have a very high opinion of our calling, so I had to go down and dignify this work, so much so that many of the best women of our race are now engaged in this line of business, and many of them are now in my employ."
Fourteenth Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League | august 1913
"I have made it possible for many colored women to abandon the wash-tub for more pleasant and profitable occupation."
Fourteenth Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League | august 1913
"Girls and women of our race must not be afraid to take hold of business endeavor and, by patient industry, close economy, determined effort, and close application to business, wring success out of a number of business opportunities that lie at their doors."
Fourteenth Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League | august 1913
"Don't sit down and wait for opportunities to come . . . get up and make them!"
Fifteenth Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League | august 1914
"Open Your Own Shop; Secure Prosperity and Freedom"
Mme C.J. Walker's Preparations for the Hair | 1917
"Keep in mind that you have something that the person standing before you really needs, imagine yourself a missionary and convert him."
Hints to Agents | 1917
"Perseverance is my motto."
First Convention of the Madam C.J. Walker Hair Culturists Union of America | august 1917
for further reading about Madam C.J. Walker:
curated with care by Alicia Williamson
Madam C.J. Walker in an early automobile
Madam CJ looks commanding chauffeuring a few friends in her car during the height of her success.
Unknown | Ebony | Theda
"Conversation with Madam CJ Walker" by Mary Sibande, 2009
South African artist Mary Sibande offers this thought-provoking exhibition piece inspired by the hair-care magnate.
Kim Nowacki
Madam C.J. Walker Life, Mission and Legacy
Learn about all Madam CJ accomplished, how she did it, and why it still matters today in this brief but detailed documentary short!
Madame CJ Walker Enterprises