Madam CJ Walker
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Madam C.J. Walker Biography (1867–1919) Madam C. J. Walker was “the first black woman millionaire in America” and made her fortune thanks to her homemade line of hair care products for black women. Born Sarah Breedlove to parents who had been slaves, she was inspired to create her hair products after an experience with hair loss, which led to the creation of the “Walker system” of hair care. A talented entrepreneur with a knack (tour de main, un truc) for self-promotion, Walker built a business empire, at first selling products directly to black women, then employing “beauty culturalists” to hand-sell her wares (marchandises). The self-made millionaire used her fortune to fund scholarships (bourses d’études) for women at the Tuskegee Institute and donated large parts of her wealth (richesse) to the NAACP, the black YMCA and other charities. Madam C.J. Walker’s Early Life Madam C.J. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove on December 23, 1867 , on a cotton plantation near Delta, Louisiana. Her parents, Owen and Minerva, were Louisiana sharecroppers (métayers) who had been born into slavery. Sarah, their fifth child, was the first in her family to be born free after the Emancipation Proclamation. Her early life was marked by hardship (épreuves, pauvreté); she was orphaned at six, after her parents' passing, Sarah was sent to live with her sister, and her brother-in-law.The three moved to Mississippi, in 1877, where Sarah picked cotton and was likely employed doing household work. She was married at fourteen (to Moses McWilliams, with whom she had a daughter, A'Lelia, in 1885) and became a widow (veuve) at twenty. Walker and 2-year-old A’Lelia moved to St. Louis, where Walker balanced (équilibrer) working as a laundress (blanchisseuse) with night school. She sang in the choir of the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church and became active in the National Association of Colored Women. It was in St. Louis that she first met Charles J. Walker, the man who would become her second husband… and inspire the name of her eventual (qui en a résulté) empire. Hair Care During the 1890s, Sarah developed a scalp (cuir chevelu) disorder that caused her to lose much of her hair, and she began to experiment with both home remedies and store-bought hair care treatments in an attempt to improve her condition. In 1905, she was hired as a commission agent by Annie Turnbo Malone — a successful, black, hair-care product entrepreneur — and she moved to Denver, Colorado. The “Walker system” Walker’s method, known as the “Walker system,” involved scalp preparation, lotions and iron combs (peigne). Her custom pomade was a wild success. While other products for black hair (largely manufactured by white businesses) were on the market, she differentiated hers by emphasizing its attention to the health of the women who would use it. She sold her homemade products directly to black women, using a personal approach that won her loyal customers. She went on to employ a fleet of saleswomen to sell the product whom she called “beauty culturalists.” Madam C.J. Walker’s Wonderful Hair Grower. Walker moved to Denver, Colorado, in 1905, with just $1.05 in savings (économies) in her pocket. Her products like Wonderful Hair Grower, Glossine and Vegetable Shampoo began to gain a loyal following, changing her fortunes (destin). Charles J. Walker moved to Denver in 1906 and they were married soon after. At first, her husband helped her with marketing, advertising and mail orders, but as the business grew, they grew apart and the two divorced. In 1908, Walker opened a beauty school and factory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania named after her daughter. In 1910, she moved her business headquarters in Indianapolis, a city with access to railroads for distribution and a large population of African American customers. She left the management of the Pittsburgh branch to A’Lelia. At the height of production, the Madame C.J. Walker Company employed over three thousand people, largely black women who sold Walker’s products door-to-door, it had become wildly successful, with profits that were the modern-day equivalent of several million dollars. Harlem Years In 1913, Walker and Charles divorced, and she traveled throughout Latin America and the Caribbean promoting her business and recruiting others to teach her hair care methods. While her mother traveled, A'Lelia helped facilitate the purchase of property in Harlem, New York, recognizing that the area would be an important base for future business operations. In 1916, upon returning from her travels, Walker moved to her new townhouse in Harlem. ‘The first black woman millionaire in America’ Walker became one of the best-known African Americans and was embraced by the black press. The success of her business enabled (permettre) her to live in homes that were a far cry (bien loin) from the one she had grown up in; her Manhattan townhouse became a salon for members of the Harlem Renaissance when her daughter inherited it in the 1920s. In 1918, at Irvington-on-Hudson — about 20 miles north of New York City in the Hudson Valley — Walker built an Italianate mansion she called Villa Lewaro. It was designed by Vertner Tandy, an accomplished African American architect. Villa Lewaro was a gathering place (lieu de rassemblement) for many luminaries (sommité) of the Harlem Renaissance, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976. Walker’s reputation as an entrepreneur was matched only (n’avait d’égal que) by her reputation for philanthrophy. She established clubs for her employees, encouraging them to give back to their communities and rewarding (récompenser) them with bonuses when they did. At a time when jobs for black women were fairly (tout à fait) limited, she promoted female talent, even stipulating in her company’s charter that only a woman could serve as president. She donated generously to educational causes and black charities, funding scholarships for women at Tuskegee Institute and donating to the NAACP, the black YMCA, and dozens of other organizations that helped make black history. Madame C.J. Walker’s Death And Legacy Madam Walker died at her country home Villa Lewaro, on May 25, 1919, at the age of fifty- one, of hypertension. In 1927, the Walker Building, an arts center that Walker had begun work on before her death, was opened in Indianapolis. An important African American cultural center for decades, it is now a registered National Historic Landmark. In 1998, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp of Walker as part of its "Black Heritage" series. Today, she is remembered as a pioneering black female entrepreneur who inspired many with her financial independence, business acumen and philanthropy. You’ll find here a link to a short video about a Netflix limited serie (4) advertising https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYDJvnDfB2w an another from Smithsonian Channel « Meet the First Self-Made Female Millionaire » https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEKXMHIGmrQ .