“I am a woman that came from the cotton fields of the South; I was promoted from there to the wash-tub; then I was promoted to the cook kitchen, and from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations.” --Madam C. J. Walker, National Negro Business League Convention, 1912 Now, from a writer acclaimed for her novels and the memoir Crossed Over, a remarkable biography of a truly heroic figure. Madam C. J. Walker created a cosmetics empire and became known as the first female self-made millionaire in this nation’s history, a noted philanthropist and champion of women’s rights and economic freedom. These achievements seem nothing less than miraculous given that she was born, in 1867, to former slaves in a hamlet on the Mississippi River. How she came to live on another river, the Hudson, in a Westchester County mansion, and in a New York City town house, is at once inspirational and mysterious, because for all that is known about the famous entrepreneur, much that occurred before her magnificent transformation—years that trace a circuitous route across the country—remains obscure. By breathing life into scattered clues and dry facts, and with a deep understanding of the times and places through which Madam Walker moved, Beverly Lowry tells a story that stretches from the antebellum South to the Harlem Renaissance and bridges nearly a century of our history in her search for the distant truths of a woman who defied all odds and redefined conventional expectations. “Wherever there was one colored person, whether it was a city, a town, or a puddle by the railroad tracks, everybody knew her name.” --Violet Davis Reynolds, Stenographer, Madam C. J. Walker Co. Description from publisher

Higbee, Mark David. W. E. B. Du Bois, F. B. Ransom, the Madam Walker Company, and Black Business Leadership in the 1930s. Indiana Magazine of History, vol. 89, no. 2, 1993, pp. 101–24.

This is a biography presented largely chronologically. Available onsite only via Stacks.

Table of contents
Sample text
Biography of Madam C. J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove) told by one of her descendants. Includes extensive endnotes and bibliography .

Between the 1920s and the 1970s, American economic culture began to emphasize the value of consumption over production. At the same time, the rise of new mass media such as radio and television facilitated the advertising and sales of consumer goods on an unprecedented scale. In Style and Status: Selling Beauty to African American Women, 1920-1975, Susannah Walker analyzes an often-overlooked facet of twentieth-century consumer society as she explores the political, social, and racial implications of the business devoted to producing and marketing beauty products for African American women. Walker examines African American beauty culture as a significant component of twentieth-century consumerism, and she links both subjects to the complex racial politics of the era. The efforts of black entrepreneurs to participate in the American economy and to achieve self-determination of black beauty standards often caused conflict within the African American community. Additionally, a prevalence of white-owned firms in the African American beauty industry sparked widespread resentment, even among advocates of full integration in other areas of the American economy and culture. Concerned African Americans argued that whites had too much influence over black beauty culture and were invading the market, complicating matters of physical appearance with questions of race and power. Based on a wide variety of documentary and archival evidence, Walker concludes that African American beauty standards were shaped within black society as much as they were formed in reaction to, let alone imposed by, the majority culture. Style and Status challenges the notion that the civil rights and black power movements of the 1950s through the 1970s represents the first period in which African Americans wielded considerable influence over standards of appearance and beauty. Walker explores how beauty culture affected black women's racial and feminine identities, the role of black-owned businesses in African American communities, differences between black-owned and white-owned manufacturers of beauty products, and the concept of racial progress in the post-World War II era. Through the story of the development of black beauty culture, Walker examines the interplay of race, class, and gender in twentieth-century America. Description from publisher

Madam C.J. Walker, the first woman - black or white - to become a self-made millionaire, started out as a laundress with few prospects. Originally named Sarah Breedlove, she was the first in her formerly enslaved family to be born free. Poor for most of her life, Walker invented a line of hair-care products when she was 37 years old. Eleven years later, she owned and operated her own thriving business, the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company. She trained thousands of consultants - almost all of them women - who purchased her products for resale to their customers throughout the United States, Central America, and the Caribbean. Through her work, Walker created a legacy of pride and do-it-yourself spirit that still resonates today. Description from publisher

This guide provides resources for researchers of African businesses and economies including economic history and current economic conditions that cover both entire regions and individual countries.

The beauty industry covers a wide range of products from cosmetics to skin care and everything in between. This guide covers this large and global business.

Historic American newspapers selected and contributed by state partners in the National Digital Newspaper Program. Search the names of the company’s products like Tan-off or Walker Hair Grower, which can lead to advertisements that include prices. To get a sense of the market generally, search the names of competitors and their products — Star Hair Grower, Madam Katie Martin, MM J. V. Hawkins, Sarah Spencer Washington’s Apex System, and Annie Malone’s Poro Company and college.

Find photographs and prints in the Library of Congress collection by searching for Black women and images for beauty shops and daily life.