Log cabin in Delta, LA. where Walker was born
Madam C. J. Walker (1867 - 1919)
Madam C.J. Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower
Walker at the wheel of her automobile
December 23rd 1867: Madam C.J. Walker born
On this day in 1867 Sarah Breedlove (later known as Madam C.J. Walker) was born in Delta, Louisiana. She was born on a cotton plantation to sharecropper parents who had recently been freed from slavery. At the age of seven Sarah was orphaned, and moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi where she found employment on a plantation. She longed to escape the oppressive working environment and soon married and moved to Missouri, while attending night school. In the 1890s Breedlove developed a scalp disorder which caused her to lose much of her hair, and led her to experiment with home remedies to help her hair. Breedlove soon founded her own company and, with the help and encouragement of her second husband, came to be known as Madam C.J. Walker. Her company, which made hair products for African-American women, was a huge success and earned her millions of dollars and eventually expanded overseas in Latin America and the Caribbean. Walker is also known for her philanthropy and promotion of the rights of African-Americans and women - stipulating that only women could be president of her company. She died in 1919, aged 51, leaving a large part of her fortune to charities and her children. Walker is remembered as an important figure in African-American history and a remarkable woman, who was born in a log cabin as the first free-born member of her family and, through hard-work and business acumen, became the first female self-made millionaire in American history.
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