C O N T I N U E D- A F R I C A N A M E R I C A N S’ W A L K O F F A M E! M A D A M C. J. W A L K E R
“ 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.”
In 1906, Sarah marketed herself as“ Madam C. J. Walker,” an independent hairdresser and cosmetic cream retailer. The name“ Madam” was adopted from women pioneers of the French beauty industry. Her husband Charles was her business partner and provided advice on advertising and promotion. Sarah sold her products door to door, teaching other black women how to groom and style their hair. In 1907 Sarah and her husband traveled around the South and Southeast promoting her products and giving lecture demonstrations of her " Walker Method " using her own formula for pomade, brushing and the use of heated combs.
“ I am not satisfied in making money for myself. I endeavor to provide employment for hundreds of the women of my race.”
In 1908 as profits continued to grow, Sarah opened a factory and a beauty school in Pittsburgh. By 1910, when she transferred her business operations to Indianapolis, the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company had become a great success with profits that were equivalent to several million dollars in today’ s market. While in Indianapolis Sarah had built a factory, hair and manicure salon and another training school. Her company expanded to not only manufacture cosmetics but she hired and trained sales beauticians. They were known as the“ Walker Agents” and became well known throughout the Black communities in the United States. Sarah being the great business woman that she was, organized clubs and conventions for her agents. They did so well that they promoted Sarah’ s philosophy of“ cleanliness and loveliness” that help advance the status of African Americans. Sarah was in Indianapolis for less than a year when she achieved the national headlines in the black press when she contributed $ 1,000.00 to the building fund of the“ colored” YMCA.
1913 was filled with both good and bad events for Sarah. Although she and husband Charles divorced, Sarah traveled from the Caribbean, to Central America to Latin America promoting her business. While she was busy traveling Sarah’ s daughter, A’ Lelia helped to facilitate the purchase of property in Harlem, New York, believing that area would be an important base in the future. Also in 1913, Sarah gave the largest donation by an African American for the construction of an Indianapolis YMCA.
In 1916, Sarah moved to her new townhouse in Harlem. From there she continued to operate her business while leaving the day-to-day operations of her factory in Indianapolis to her forelady. Sarah immersed herself in the social and political culture of the Harlem Renaissance. Her philanthropic endeavors included educational scholarships and donations to homes for the elderly, the NAACP, and the National Conference of Lynching and other organizations that were focused on improving the lives of African Americans. In 1918, Sarah 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 for many luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976.
“ There is no royal flower-strewn path to success. And if there is, I have not found it for if I have accomplished anything in life it is because I have been willing to work hard.”
On May 25, 1919, at the age of 51, Sarah dies of hypertension at her Villa Lewaro home. The Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company lasted 62 years after her death and closed operations in 1981. Her legacy lives in and the Madam C. J. Walker Beauty Culture is available at Sephora retailers.
Madam C. J. Walker( Birth Name: Sarah Breedlove) Born: December 23, 1867 Deceased: May 25, 1919
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