Madam C. J. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove, on December 23rd, 1867 and is commonly regarded as the first African-American millionaire.
She was one of six children and her parents and elder siblings were slaves on the Madison Parish plantation, in Louisiana. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, so Sarah was the first in her family to be born into freedom.
Like many women of the era, Sarah experienced hair loss. Back in those days, most Americans did not have indoor plumbing, central heating or electricity. That is why they infrequently took baths and washed their hair. Unfortunately, this caused many people to develop scalp disease.
Sarah started experimenting with home remedies and products which were already on the market. Eventually, she developed her own shampoo and an ointment that contained sulfur to make the scalp healthier for hair growth.
In 1906, she married a newspaper advertising salesman, named Charles Joseph Walker. This was her third marriage and that is how she became known as Madame C.J. Walker. By this time, she was selling her products throughout the United States.
In 1908, she and her husband settled in Pittsburgh and opened Lelia College to train “hair culturists”. Later, in 1910, they moved to Indianapolis and opened her company headquarters and factory.
Over the years, she taught and trained many other black women to build their own businesses. She was also a speaker and gave lectures on political, economic and social issues. During her career, she donated large sums of money to the NAACP, the YMCA, black schools, organizations, orphanages and retirement homes.
She died in 1919, at the age of 51. She was considered to be the first self-made female American millionaire and the wealthiest African-American woman in America.
