Madam C.J. Walker

1
Madam C.J. Walker

• Presented by
• Melinda Bluhm
• Jeremy Schartner

2
Beginnings

• Sarah Breedlove (later changed name to Madam C.J.
  Walker) was born December 23, 1867, in Delta,
  Louisiana.
• She was the youngest child of Owen and Minerva
  Breedlove.
• Owen and Minerva were both former slaves who won
  their freedom after the Civil War.

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Beginnings Continued

• She had an older brother Alex, and an older
  sister Louvenia.
• Sarahs family were poor tenant farmers.
• Owen and Minerva died of yellow fever in 1874
  (when Sarah was 6) when an epidemic swept across
  the Mississippi River delta.

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Beginnings Continued

• Alex was later forced to move to Vicksburg and
  then Denver to find work.
• Sarah and her sister stayed and tried to make a
  living but eventually followed and became
  washerwomen.
• When Sarah was 11 her sister married Willie
  Powell, who didnt like Sarah.

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Starting Her Own Life

• When Sarah was only 14 she married Moses (Jeff)
  McWilliams, mostly to get away from her
  brother-in-law and have a home of her own.
• On June 6, 1885 (when Sarah was 17) she gave
  birth to their daughter Lelia.
• Just two years later Moses was killed in an
  accident, leaving Sarah to support herself and
  Lelia.

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On Her Own

• In 1888 Sarah moved her and Lelia to St. Louis.
• Sarah worked hard, maintained high standards and
  drew many customers as a washerwoman.
• She saved extra earnings, and even made enough
  money so that Lelia could finish high school and
  attend Knoxville College ( a small
  African-American college in Tennessee.)

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On Her Own Continued

• While in St. Louis, Sarah joined the St. Paul
  African Methodist Episcopal Church, and became
  active in the missionary group there.
• As a group they attended the Worlds Fair in 1904
  where Sarah heard Margaret Washington (Booker T.
  Washingtons wife) speak.

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Inspiration

• Sarah was impressed by Margarets poise and
  elegance, but most of all by her flawless
  personal appearance and grooming.
• Margarets example inspired Sarah to do something
  about her own appearance.
• Sarah had dry, thin hair, and in some places her
  scalp even showed.

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Changes

• Sarah tried many different products to try and
  solve her hair problem, but none ever worked.
• Kitchen Chemistry- she decided to try and
  formulate her own hair treatment, so she
  experimented with combining different
  ingredients.
• Sarah relied on trial and error because she had
  no educational background in the sciences.

10
Breakthrough

• Sarah claims she came across the formula to her
  product later called Madam C.J. Walkers
  Wonderful Hair Grower in a dream she had where a
  black man told her what ingredients to mix for
  her hair.
• She tried it on her hair and it made it shinier,
  healthier, and easier to manage.
• She had the same results when she tested it on
  friends and relatives.

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The Walker System

• She realized that the formula could also be used
  to straighten the natural curls of African
  American hair.
• The Walker System involved
• Shampoo
• A pomade (hair grower) that gave the hair body
• Glossine to give the hair shine
• And applying heated metal combs to soften and
  straighten the hair.

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Mixed Reactions

• Some African American women looked down on her
  product because they believed they straightened
  their hair to look more like white women.
• Others saw it as fashion blacks straighten their
  hair to style it, and whites curl their hair.

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Another Move

• Sarah decided to move from St. Louis to Denver to
  start her business there.
• Once there she continued her friendship with a
  man named C.J. Walker who helped her with
  advertising and business advice.
• She worked as a cook during the day, and
  continued working on new formulas in the evening.
• She also went door to door at night selling her
  three products at the time
• Wonderful Hair Grower
• Glossine
• Vegetable Shampoo

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Changes

• Once she saved enough money she could concentrate
  on expanding her business.
• Her friendship with C.J. Walker grew and on
  January 4, 1906 they were married.
• She took his name and added the Madam to add a
  sense of dignity to her products.
• Soon after, she opened the Madam C.J. Walker
  Manufacturing Company in Denver.

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New Ventures

• Once Lelia graduated from college she joined her
  mother and they opened the Lelia College to train
  her hair culturists which were all African
  American women.
• The hair culturists (Walker Agents) wore uniforms
  of white shirts tucked into a black skirt and
  carried the signature black bags.
• Every agent had to signed an employment contract
  promising to use only Walker products, and to
  follow certain rules of hygiene.
• They went door to door selling her products, and
  also styling their customers hair.

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On Her Own Again

• Sarah left her daughter in charge of the college
  while she moved on to Indianapolis to set up the
  company headquarters. Business continued to
  boom.
• A cost to her success came when her and C.J.
  divorced in 1912 because of continued differences
  over the business.
• He thought she should keep it small, and she kept
  wanting to expand.

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Millionaire

• In 1913 Lelia convinced Sarah to move to Harlem.
• There they opened the Walker beauty salon.
• In 1918, Sarah was so successful that she became
  a millionaire.
• She was Americas first black woman millionaire.
• She built a 30 room mansion in upstate New York,
  on the Hudson River that became called the Villa
  Lewaro.

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• By 1918, Walker had high blood pressure and
  failing kidneys.
• Her doctors ordered her to slow down, but she
  couldnt change her lifestyle.
• She died on May 25, 1919, from hypertension and
  kidney failure.
• W.E.B. Dubois wrote It is given to few persons
  to transform a people in a generation. Yet this
  was done by the late Madam C.J. Walker.

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Contributions

• She donated a lot of money to the NAACP and the
  YMCA.
• She established scholarships for young women at
  the Tuskegee Institute.
• She helped fund the Palmer Institute a private
  secondary school for blacks in North Carolina.
• She organized her employees into Walker Clubs
  and gave cash prizes to the groups that did the
  most community service.
• She also helped African Americans by hiring them,
  patronizing their businesses, and encouraging
  black artists and writers.

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Obstacles

• Impoverished background
• No formal education
• I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of
  the South. I was promoted from there to the
  washtub. Then I was promoted to the cook
  kitchen, and from there I promoted myself into
  the business of manufacturing hair goods and
  preparations. I have built my own factory on my
  own ground.

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Mentors

• She didnt really have any mentors.
• She was inspired by Margaret Washington.
• It is also believed that when she cooked for Mr.
  Scholtz (pharmacist) she consulted him when
  formulating her products.
• She wasnt a mentor to anyone but I believe she
  had an influence on the black culture in general,
  and the fact that she was so successful as a
  woman could inspire other women wanting to
  succeed.

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Pictures

• Madam C.J. Walker
• Her birthplace

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Pictures Continued

• Walter Manufacturing Co. in Indianapolis

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• Villa Lewaro Mansion in New York

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• Wonderful Hair Grower
• Vegetable Shampoo

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• Walker with Freeman B. Ransom, Booker T.
  Washington, Alexander Manning, Dr. Joseph Ward,
  and R.W. Bullock.

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Three Things to Remember

• She was Americas first black woman millionaire.
• She invented hair care products for African
  American women.
• She was an active supporter of African American
  foundations.