Madame C.J. Walker – the woman who would become the first Black millionaire in American history – was born Sarah Breedlove on December 13, 1867 in Delta, Louisiana to Owen and Minerva Breedlove.
Madame Walker was truly a self-made woman with little other than herself to rely upon during the early years of her life.
She became an orphan at age seven when both parents died during an outbreak of yellow fever. At age 10 she moved with her older sister to Vicksburg, Mississippi to become a maid. Unfortunately, her older sister had married an abusive man. Thus, in order to escape the drama and trauma of that relationship, she got married at 14 to Moses McWilliams. She and Moses had one child – Lelia who would later change her name to A’Lelia Walker and become a major figure in the African American literary revolution known as the Harlem Renaissance.
Madame Walker can be best described as a woman who came to believe that the best solution to the plight of Blacks in America was economic growth. She was a hard driving entrepreneur who discovered a marketable idea and then promoted it unrelentingly. The idea was hair products for black women and the marketing strategy involved converting thousands of women (and some men) into “Walker’s Agents” who promoted her hair products door-to-door and at conventions, churches and social clubs. Although her products were used in conjunction with the straightening comb, she rejected all criticism that her hair care system actually involved making the hair of Black women look like that of white women.
In 1906, she and her third husband – Charles Joseph Walker – toured the country, much of the Caribbean and parts of Latin America promoting her hair care products and training sales agents while Lelia ran the company’s mail order operations from Denver, Colorado.
Amazingly, Walker started the company as a result of solving a personal problem. In her 30’s, Walker’s drive and perhaps nervous energy led to her losing her hair. She was working as a domestic in St. Louis. She went into her kitchen and concocted a hair growth formula, which she said had come to her in a dream. When her hair began to grow back, relatives and friends began to demand that she do the same for them. Testimonials and promotions enabled product sales to soar.
In 1910, operations were moved to Indianapolis, Indiana. By this time, Walker had become a nationally known figure and an inspiration to millions of Blacks.
But personal financial success was not enough. The bloody East St. Louis race riots of 1917 deeply disturbed her. It was rumored that among the Black men lynched during the upheaval was her first husband Moses McWilliams. Regardless, she became a strong advocate of those wanting to make lynching a federal crime.
Finally, Walker moved to New York where she first built a luxurious townhouse in Harlem. But a year later in August 1918, she built a mansion on an estate on Irvington on the Hudson, New York. Her neighbors included multi-millionaire industrialists such as Jay Gould and John D. Rockefeller.
However, the never-ending drive and the breakneck speed of her life had taken their toll. Madame C.J. Walker died at 51 on May 25, 1919 due to complications related to hypertension
Once asked who gave her the start in business, she responded, “I got myself a start by giving myself a start.”
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