Madam C. J. Walker (1867-1919). Activist, Philanthropist, and First African American Woman Millionaire.
C. J. Walker (Sarah Breedlove) developed women’s hair and beauty-based products in the early 1900s, advancing the careers of literally thousands of black saleswomen.
At left, Scurlock Gallery silver print photo, Wash. DC, c. 1912. This tin canister circa 1906 still contains some product. In background, is page one of a 3-page signed letter (with mailing envelope) to Madame C. J.’s attorney and business manager. Chester, SC, June 23, 1912.
In retrospect, she did not seem destined for greatness. Orphaned in Louisiana at age seven, Sarah Breedlove moved in with an elder sister in Vicksburg, Mississippi. She married at 14 to escape her abusive brother-in-law, but her husband died in 1887, leaving her with a two-year-old daughter to support. Working long hours as a washerwoman in St. Louis, Missouri, kept her in penury and despondent; even her hair kept falling out. Her next marriage to escape poverty also proved abusive and she she moved West after the divorce.
Personal hygiene of the day left much to be desired, and women’s hairstyles suffered prominently. At 37, Breedlove vowed to change her life to benefit not only her daughter, but the appearance of black women. Reinventing herself as a businessperson selling hair care products, she next developed her own formula and product in 1905. The following year she married Charles Joseph Walker, an advertising salesman she had known in St. Louis. Adding “Madam” before her new surname, her husband and daughter helped make her signature product line wildly successful, becoming a legend in her own time.
Despite Madam C. J. Walker’s fame, President Woodrow Wilson declined to keep the appointment he set with her at the White House to discuss the issue of lynching. Though he had kept her delegation waiting for an inordinate period, the meeting wasn’t rescheduled and she died shortly afterwards.