The Unique Beauty of ...MADAME C. J. WALKER [1867-1919]


WHETHER SPUCING UP for a day at the office or dolling up for a night on the town, millions of black American women owe thanks to a sharp businesswomen who came to be known as Madame C. J. Walker. Sara Breedlove rose from humble beginnings in the Deep South to command one of the largest beauty-care companies in the world. She became the FIRST BLACK WOMAN IN AMERICAN HISTORY to amass a fortune of more than one million dollars. During her illustrious entrepreneurial career, Madame Walker provided jobs for thousands of black women and with her products secured and enhanced their self-esteem. As the legendary black writer James Weldon saw her, C. J. Walker helped black American women learn to love their own special brand of beauty. ‘She taught the masses of colored women a secret age-old but lost to them--the secret every woman ought to know, ‘ Weldon wrote. ‘She taught them the secret of feminine beauty.’

Although an object of some social controversy during her lifetime-notably from blacks who felt she was encouraging African Americans to try to “look white” with her products--she persevered. Eventually, her cosmetology products businesses held forth in many large American cities. It may have seemed an unlikely calling, but C.J. Walker saw an immense need for ways to improve the personal self-esteem of black American women; and in her able hands, the issue of grooming and personal hygiene earned a place in the nation’s fabric. Indeed, young Sara Breedlove came of age when few black American women could afford to make their physical appearance a priority.

Born in Delta, Georgia, shortly after the Civil War ended, C. J. (as she came to be known), like thousands of black America girls,m faced a bleak future. During the eighteen seventies, blacks in the Deep South struggled to carve out a place for themselves. It was the Reconstruction era, and the “official” end of slavery had not brought financial independence for most African Americans. Her parents, Owen and Minerva, former slaves, died when she was young, and C.J. was raised by her older sister. As often was the curing during this period, girls were barely of high school age got married. For C.J., her marriage took place when she was fourteen, to a man several years older than she. By the time she had turned twenty, her husband had died, and she was left to fend for herself and an infant daughter, A’lelia. With pluck and determination, young C.J. headed north, like thousands of other Southern blacks feeling the devastating effects of slavery...

Gifted with resourcefulness, ambition, and a strong will, C.J. soon came to realize that she held power over her own destiny. While making money on the side by dressing the hair of other black women in St. Louis, she INVENTED a metal comb that could flatten curly hair. In 1905, by experimenting with existing products, she also INVENTED a chemical compounded that conditioned blacks’ hair. Prior to this, black women had few options for styling their hair. C.J. found that her pioneering treatment solution, combined with a hot comb, offered black women new choices for styling...As her empire grew, she forbade her workers to use the term hair straightener.

Over the next decade, C.J. business enterprise grew tremendously. She had married Charles Walker and he supported her efforts to expand her business...In Chicago, she established one of the largest and best-known beauty schools in the nation. It was a large prosperous business, one that drew enthusiastic young black women from across the nation seeking work and instruction. As C.J. designed the business, she allowed eager young saleswomen to claim a part of the enterprise through franchises. In this manner, the Madame C. J. Walker School of Beauty became synonymous with pride, prosperity and self-esteem among black women during the early part of the twentieth century.

In 1910 she oversaw the construction of her own factory in Indianapolis... Her image-with her strong features and carefully coiffeur hair prominently featured--became known around the world, as she expanded her customer base to include black women in the Caribbean. As astute businesswoman, she maintained a firm grip on her growing enterprise and soon became on of the wealthiest women in America...

C.J. was a VISIONARY, and uncounted black women owed their personal and financial independence to her UNIQUE example... Some eighty years after her death, a new generation of Americans is learning the story of the phenomenal Madame C.J. Walker.

_______________
Excerpts from “Fifty Black Women Who Changed America”

Alexander, Amy “Fifty Black Women Who Changed America” New Jersey: Birch Lane Press, 1999:39