From Jessica McElrath,
Your Guide to African-American History.
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Dates: December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919

Occupation: inventor, entrepreneur, philanthropist, social activist

In the early 1900s, Madam C.J. Walker was one of the most well known blacks of the time. America’s first black woman millionaire made her fortune with the invention of hair care products specifically tailored to black women. She had a hand in revolutionizing the way black women styled their hair by combining the use of the hot comb with her hair care products.

Walker’s Early Life

On December 23, 1867, Madam C.J. Walker was born with the name Sarah Breedlove, near Delta, Louisiana on a cotton plantation. Her parents died when she was seven years old, and Walker and her sister survived by working in the cotton fields in Vicksburg, Mississippi. When she was fourteen, she married laborer, Moses McWilliams. Their marriage lasted for six years, until he died in an accident. A widow at twenty and the mother of a young daughter, Breedlove moved to St. Louis, Missouri to work as a laundress.

Walker Creates Hair Care Products

Walker began to suffer from hair loss, so she started working as a sales agent for Annie Turnbo Pope Malone’s Poro Company selling hair grower. Realizing the great potential in beauty products for black women, Walker moved to Denver to start her own hair care business. Walker married Charles Joseph Walker, a newspaper sales agent who later helped her advertise her products in black newspapers.

Walker invented several hair care products. Among the product were Madam Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower and a hair softener that could be used with hot combs. Walker traveled throughout the United States speaking about her hair care products, giving demonstrations and selling them door-to-door. As her products became popular, she also became one of the most well known black Americans of the time.

In 1908, she opened Lelia College in Pittsburgh, which was used to train “beauty culturists.” At Walker’s high point, she employed over three thousand workers, most of whom were door-to-door saleswomen. For the time, they were paid well, making five to fifteen dollars per day. In 1910, she moved her headquarters to Indianapolis.

Walker Supports Charitable and Political Causes

In addition to her business sense, she was charitable with her wealth and became involved in social and political activities. In Indianapolis she provided the funding for the construction of a black YMCA, donated money to the NAACP, funded the preservation of the home of Frederick Douglass, funded scholarships for Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute, and donated to several other charitable institutions.

Walker also became involved in social and political activities. In 1917, she participated in an anti-lynching protest in East St. Louis, Illinois, where three dozen blacks had been murdered by a white mob.

In 1918, her home, Villa Lewaro, in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, designed by black architect Vertner Tandy, was completed. One year later, Walker died of kidney disease.