Madam CJ Walker Bio
Storyboard Text
- Madam CJ Walker(1867-1919)
- LegacyIn Harlem, Walker dedicated herself to many causes during the Harlem Renaissance. She donated to educational funds such as scholarships for African American women, gave to homes for the elderly, the NAACP, YCMA, and many other charities. She built a mansion called Villa Lewaro designed by acclaimed African American architect Vertner Tandy. Her home became a National Historic Landmark in 1976. Walker fought for justice and went to the White House to petition President Woodrow Wilson to make lynching a federal crime. Walker died on May 25, 1919 in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York. Madam CJ Walker was an activist, philanthropist, and the first African American woman to be a self-made millionaire!
- Career Sarah met advertiser Charles J. Walker in St Louis and they soon married. Due to a scalp condition, Sarah began to lose her hair. She concocted home remedies to help. She was able to create a successful line of African American hair care products and began using the name Madam C.J. Walker to be more recognizable.In 1907, Walker and her husband traversed the South selling the "Walker Method" of hair care. By 1908, the business was doing so well, Walker opened her own factory and beauty school in Pittsburgh and by 1910, she moved the operation to Indianapolis. At this point, profits were in the millions! Walker hired African American women to sell her products. They were known as "beauty culturalists" or "Walker Agents". In 1913, Walker divorced and traveled around Latin America to further expand her business. In 1916 she settled in Harlem, NY with her daughter A'Lelia who also worked for the business.
- Early LifeSarah Breedlove was born on December 23, 1867 near Delta, Louisiana. Her parents had been enslaved and were recently freed following the end of the Civil War. Sadly, her parents died when she was only seven years old. Upon their deaths, Sarah moved with her sister and brother-in-law to Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1877 where, as a child, she picked cotton to help support the family. Sarah was harshly treated by her brother-in-law and married Moses McWilliams at age 14 by means of escape. She had her daughter A'Lelia on June 6, 1885. Tragedy struck again when Moses died two years later. Sarah took A'Lelia and went to live with her brothers in St. Louis who were working as barbers. She worked as a washer woman to earn money to send A'Lelia to school. She also attended night school when she could.
- “I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. From there I got promoted to the washtub. From there I was promoted to the cook kitchen. And from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations. I have built my own factory on my own ground.”
- "I want you to understand that your first duty is to humanity. I want others to look at us and see that we care not just about ourselves but about others.”
- “I had to make my own living and my own opportunity. But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.”
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