Madam CJ Walker is a name that echoes with pride and admiration among Black Americans. She is considered the first Black American woman to become a self-made billionaire, through her revolutionary hair care products and tools, creating a legacy that still resonates today. But her impact goes far beyond her business achievements.
Originally named Sarah Breedlove, she was born in 1867 in Louisiana. Her parents, Owen and Minerva, were sharecroppers who had been born into slavery. Sarah, their fifth child, was the first in her family to be born free after the Emancipation Proclamation.
She was orphaned at the young age of seven, and grew up in poverty, working as a domestic servant and a laundress. When she was 14 she was married and had a child, then later widowed at age 20.
With her young child in tow, she moved to St. Louis and began singing for a choir. She had very little money to her name but was trying to save so her daughter could go to school one day. That’s also where she met her second husband, Charles J. Walker.
She faced numerous challenges and setbacks, including losing her hair due to a scalp condition. That’s what inspired her to create hair care products for other Black women. She created a formula that would change the Black hair industry.
Walker focused on the scalp and shared healthier methods of tending to Black hair. The system included a shampoo, a pomade that was supposed to help hair grow, strenuous brushing, and applying iron combs to hair.
Most Black hair care products at the time were sold by white businesses, but Walker was determined to keep her products within the community. Now known as the “Walker system”, she created a loyal customer base of Black women by selling her products door to door at first, then hiring thousands of sales agents to market the product. It’s said by 1919, she had over 25,000 sales agents.
In 1905, Walker moved to Denver, Colorado, with just over a dollar in her pocket. Her products like Wonderful Hair Grower, Glossine and Vegetable Shampoo began to gain a loyal following, changing her fortunes. At first, her husband helped in advertisement and marketing, but they grew estranged and divorced.
In 1908, Walker opened a beauty school and factory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania named after her daughter, A’Lelia. But a few years later she moved the headquarters of operation to Indianapolis, Indiana where there was better access to railroads that went through Black towns and neighborhoods. A’Lelia also persuaded her mother to establish an office and beauty salon in New York City’s growing Harlem neighborhood in 1913; later it became a center of African-American culture.
During the height of her career, Walker built a factory, hair salon, mail-order business, and a beauty school that trained her sales agents. In addition to training in sales and grooming, Walker showed other black women how to budget, build their own businesses, and encouraged them to become financially independent.
She was also a big believer in giving back to the community. She established clubs for her employees, encouraging them to give back to their communities and rewarding them with bonuses when they did.
Walker was championed by the Black Press and garnered a huge support of Black women that carried out her legacy, including her daughter who inherited the business.
Madam Walker died at her country home in Irvington-on-Hudson on May 25, 1919, at the age of fifty-one, of hypertension. By the time of her death, the Madame C.J. Walker Company had employed some 40,000 people, largely Black women who sold Walker’s products.
Madam CJ Walker’s success was not only due to her innovative products, but also her entrepreneurial spirit and determination. She was a trailblazer who broke down barriers for Black American women in business and paved the way for others to follow in her footsteps. She was not only the first Black American woman to become a self-made millionaire but also a philanthropist who supported various causes, including education, healthcare, and civil rights.