Who is madam cj walker

Madam CJ Walker. Lowry, Beverly. New York: Knopf, Walker By Debra Michals, PhD Works Cited. Bundles, A'Lelia. Washington Square Press, Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.

Dwojeski, Anne E. Walker: Entrepreneur, Leader, and Philanthropist. Fisher, Walter. Cambridge: Belknap Press, Walker," by which she was thereafter known. In Walker and her husband traveled around the South and Southeast promoting her products and giving lecture demonstrations of her "Walker Method" — involving her own formula for pomade, brushing and the use of heated combs. As profits continued to grow, in Walker opened a factory and a beauty school in Pittsburgh, and by , when Walker transferred her business operations to Indianapolis, the Madam C.

Walker Manufacturing Company had become wildly successful, with profits that were the modern-day equivalent of several million dollars. In Indianapolis, the company not only manufactured cosmetics but also trained sales beauticians. In turn, they promoted Walker's philosophy of "cleanliness and loveliness" as a means of advancing the status of African Americans.

A relentless innovator, Walker organized clubs and conventions for her representatives, which recognized not only successful sales, but also philanthropic and educational efforts among African Americans. In , 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 , upon returning from her travels, Walker moved to her new townhouse in Harlem. From there, she would continue to operate her business, while leaving the day-to-day operations of her factory in Indianapolis to its forelady. Walker quickly immersed herself in the social and political culture of the Harlem Renaissance. She founded philanthropies that included educational scholarships and donations to homes for the elderly, the NAACP , and the National Conference on Lynching, among other organizations focused on improving the lives of African Americans.

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Happening right now! Celebrate Indianapolis! You Are There Walker Madam C. Walker Hoosier Facts and Fun. Floor Plans. Canal Level. Main Level. Second Level. Fourth Level. Selected Bibliography: M Madam C. Walker Papers, Indiana Historical Society. Lewis, David Levering. Her ailment would become the impetus for a large, multi-faceted, international company that sold hair care products—including an inventive vegetable shampoo that she developed—and that offered training to women both as hair stylists and as sales representatives.

Tragedy and adversity dominated her early years. She was born in as Sarah Breedlove , just four years after the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. Her father was a farm laborer; her mother, a laundress. As a child, she worked in the cottonfields, but by the age of 7, she had suffered the loss of both of her parents and was forced to join the household of her sister and a brother-in-law, who moved with her to Vicksburg, Mississippi.

But six years later, she was a widow with a 2-year-old daughter in a world that seemed destined to lock her into a life of poverty. To begin anew, she moved to St. Louis, where her four brothers worked as barbers.

In the s, she began to notice places on her scalp where she was losing her hair. Bald spots were not rare among women of that time, particularly in areas without running water and electricity. Many women made a habit of washing their hair only once a month, and their scalps suffered, thus making it difficult for hair to grow.

On the lid of the two-ounce can appears an African-American woman with thick, flowing hair. That woman was Walker herself. Walker , soon to be made into a Netflix series starring Octavia Spencer. On Her Own Ground is not only the first comprehensive biography of one of recent history's most amazing entrepreneurs and philanthropists, it is about a woman who is truly an African American icon.