On December 23, 1867, Owen and Minerva Breedlove of Delta, Louisiana welcomed their sixth child, a daughter they named Sarah. She would later be known as Madam C.J. Walker. Sarah was the first of her family to be born into freedom after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Her parents worked as slaves on a cotton plantation, but after the Civil War, they became sharecroppers.
Sarah was orphaned at just 7 years old. Minerva died of an illness in 1872, and Owen died a year later. This left a young Sarah in the care of her older sister Louvenia, who was married to an allegedly abusive man. At 14 years old, she married a man named Moses McWilliams to get away from his brother-in-law. A couple of years later, Sarah and Moses welcomed a daughter they named Lelia. Sarah has had a challenging life thus far, and it would be marred by another tragedy. McWilliams died in 1887, which left Sarah a widow at just 20 years old.
Sarah Breedlove’s determination to succeed
After the death of her husband, Sarah decided to move with her daughter to St. Louis, Missouri to be closer to her brothers who worked as barbers. She got employment as a laundrywoman, but her pay was measly. However, this didn’t deter Sarah. She joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church where she sang in the choir and she found mentors in her fellow churchgoers. Sarah wasn’t well-educated, but willing to learn from her new friends. At 30 years old, she married John Davis, but the union didn’t last, and it ended in divorce eight years later.
Sarah has struggled with hair loss throughout her life, much like other African-American women during that time. There were products out in the market that claimed to fix the issue, but they were geared toward Caucasian women, who had different hair textures. There was a product made for hair like her’s, though — The Great Wonderful Hair Grower. It was the brainchild of an African-American inventor and businesswoman, Annie Malone. Sarah decided to use the product and eventually became a sales agent for the company.
In 1905, Sarah moved to Denver, Colorado, where she gained employment as a cook for a pharmacist. It was during that time that she learned chemistry from her employer. She used her newfound knowledge to experiment with creams and salves to address the problems of hair loss, and other hair and scalp issues she experienced herself.
Building an empire
In 1906, Sarah married Charles Joseph Walker, who worked in newspaper advertising. She then went by Madam C.J. Walker. By that time, she had decided to start her own business selling hair care products catered to African-American hair, and she invested $1.25 to produce Madam Walker’s Wonderful Hair Grower. For more than a year, Madam C.J. Walker traveled to different locations across the South to promote and sell her products.
In 1910, Madam C.J. Walker moved to Indianapolis to build a laboratory and factory — the Walker Manufacturing Company — for her booming business. The company also trained about 40,000 sales agents to have a greater reach. These agents went door-to-door and explained how to use the haircare products. A couple of years later, Madam C.J. Walker and Charles divorced, but she opted to keep her name, as she had already established her business.
Madam C.J. Walker, who once struggled to survive, was now a wealthy businesswoman. She was a good employer and wanted to share her knowledge and wealth, and in 1917, she established the National Negro Cosmetics Manufacturers Association. “I am not merely satisfied in making money for myself. I am endeavoring to provide employment for hundreds of women of my race,” she said.
Madam C.J. Walker had expanded her business to Central America and the Caribbean by 1913. As her business grew, she became a philanthropist and donated thousands of dollars to different organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the African-American YMCA, as well as retirement homes and orphanages.
Madam C.J. Walker’s death
Madam C.J. Walker died of kidney failure and hypertension on May 25, 1919, at 51 years old. Her daughter, Lelia (now known as A’Lelia) took over as the president of her mother’s company. The Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company closed its doors in 1981, and the trademark, along with the original formulas for the hair products, were sold to another company.
At the time of Madam C.J. Walker’s death, her business reportedly earned $500,000 in annual revenue. She also invested in real estate, and one of her properties, Villa Lewaro in Westchester County, New York, was said to be worth $700,000. She also had massive properties in Harlem and other locations. It’s difficult to say for certain how much her estate was worth when she died, but with the records available, her net worth was certainly more than a million dollars. For that, Madam C.J. Walker holds the Guinness World Record as America’s first self-made millionairess.
