Voices of Freedom: Madam C. J. Walker
- Jun 11
- 2 min read
Highlighting Juneteenth
Madam C. J. Walker
(1867-1919)
Businesswoman
“I am not satisfied in making money for myself. I endeavor to provide employment to hundreds of women of my race.”
Madam C. J. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove in Delta, Louisiana, the daughter of Owen and Minerva Anderson Breedlove. She was the first in her family to have been born free. Her parents both died before she turned seven, and she was raised in Vicksburg, Mississippi, by her older sister, Louvenia Powell.
While still a child, Sarah had to go to work as a domestic servant. At the age of 14, she married Moses McWilliams, with whom she bore a daughter, A’Leila. Seven years after McWilliams’ death in 1887, she married John Davis, but by 1903 the marriage had ended.
With the advice of her brothers, who were barbers in St Louis, Breedlove began to develop hair-care formulas to treat her own hair, which had significant dandruff. She became a commissioned agent for Annie Turnbo Malone, who sold hair-care products designed for black women. This experience inspired Breedlove to start her own business.
In 1906, Breedlove married Charles Joseph Walker, and began to call herself “Madam C. J. Walker.” She built up the business, selling door to door and advising women on hair care, while A’Leila ran the mail-order side of the business. In 1908, the Walkers re-located to Pittsburgh, where Madame Walker established a school for training hair-care specialists. She built up a network of agents who sold her hair-care products, in return for a generous commission.
In 1910, Walker moved the business to Indianapolis. There, she built a factory, a school for training beauticians, and a laboratory for developing new products. As her business grew, she hired talented administrators, many of them black women, to assist her.
Madame Walker and her husband divorced in 1912. Madame Walker continued to grow her business, developing networks of sales agents and beauticians, while encouraging black women to become entrepreneurs and business owners. In 1913, she moved to Harlem , leaving her business’s operation in Indianapolis. In New York, she built a lavish mansion, and became known for her political activity and philanthropy.
Madame Walked died in 1919, at the age of 52, from kidney disease and hypertension. In its obituary, the Chicago Defender called her “one of the world’s noblest women.” Her daughter A’Leila Walker carried on as president of her mother’s business, which remained in operation until 1981.
Madam C. J. Walker, a biography for young readers by Catherine Nichols, is available from the Kenosha Public Library. Also available from the Kenosha Public Library is A’Leila Bundles’ On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker:
