Madam C.J. Walker

Background

Sarah Breedlove, better known as Madam C.J. Walker, was born on December 23, 1867. She was an entrepreneur, activist, and philanthropist born near Delta, Louisiana, to Owen and Minerva Breedlove. Walker had five siblings and was born after the Emancipation Proclamation, making her the first of her siblings born into freedom. By age seven, Walker was an orphan, and she moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi, to live with her brother-in-law.

Walker’s career path began with marriage. She married her first husband, Moses McWilliams, in 1882, and they had a daughter, Lelia, before his death in 1887. In 1894, she married John Davis but left him in 1903. Walker married her third husband, Charles Joseph Walker, and became Madam C.J. Walker. Before she started her company, Walker suffered severe dandruff and other hair problems. In 1904, she became a commission agent working for Annie Malone, an entrepreneur that created African-American hair care products. In 1905, Walker began developing her hair product line while selling for Malone. She soon began selling her products door-to-door.

In 1908, she and her family relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and they opened a beauty parlor to train hair culturists. In 1910, Walker relocated her business to Indianapolis and established Madam C.J. Walker’s Manufacturing Company headquarters. From 1911 to 1919, she employed several thousand women who became her sales agents. Walker had several rivals, but her range of products focused on turning brittle hair into soft, luxuriant hair. She had made over a million dollars and garnered popularity for their effectiveness.

As a successful female entrepreneur, Walker’s personal life was public. As earlier stated, she was married thrice and became Madame C.J. Walker died at her country home in Irvington-on-Hudson on May 25, 1919, at 51, of hypertension. Her daughter Lelia was his only heir. The television show “Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker” (2020) has preserved Walker’s legacy.