Making history probably isn’t what every child dreams of doing. However, Sarah Breedlove known to us as Madam C.J. Walker became a business pioneer making history with a legacy of greatness. Uneducated, poor, and with nothing but the courage in her heart to provide for her daughter propelled her into higher heights that continues leave entrepreneurs awestruck today. Her hair care products ended up profiting $1,000 a day, seven days a week back in the early 1900’s (Her business began to boom in 1906). She became the first self-made millionaire in America.

Luxury Car

In Delta, Louisiana blacks lived under some of the most horrible racial conditions in the country, and Sarah was born in the thick of it on December 23, 1867. Her parents, Minerva and Owen Breedlove were slaves until the “Emancipation Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln.” Even though blacks were free they did not know what exactly freedom meant. If you think about it for a second, it makes perfect sense. Family generations were built around the curse of slavery and all of the sudden the shackles of captivity fell off.

Unfortunately, Sarah moved in with her sister and her sister’s abusive husband when both her parents died at the age of six. Already an orphan, she decided to get married at the age of fourteen in order to escape the house of hell; she married an older gentleman named McWilliams. After six years of marriage he died at the hands of a lynch mob but not until they had a beautiful daughter named Leila.

Wonderful Hair Grower

Now, here’s the juicy part. Once she moved to St. Louis she realized that patches of her hair kept falling out. All the hair products available were for white women to straighten their hair but not to take care of it. Black women hair products were nonexistent. Year after year Sarah would mix different ingredients together and none of her hair care mixes would work. Black women all around the country were going through the same thing and if there was a blog around at the time they would’ve been writing about it.

A Million Dollar Dream

Sarah had a dream, and said,
“One night I had a dream that a man appeared to me and told me what to mix up for my hair. Some of the remedy was grown in Africa, but I sent for it, mixed it, put it on my scalp, and in a few weeks my hair was coming in faster than it had ever fallen out.”

Sarah gave out the remedy to help friends out and they kept talking about it, while asking for more. Eventually, she started selling it and began her first business with a $1.50 investment and called it the, “Hair Grower.”

While her daughter was in college there was a death in the family so Sarah moved to Denver; she met her soon to be husband, C.J. Walker who was a newspaperman and taught her how to advertise her product in the black newspapers around the country. Her business took flight from there. She went from selling $10 of hair products a day to $1,000 a day. Mr. Walker felt as though they were making enough money but Mrs. Walker had bigger plans and her ambition was too enormous to slow down when things were going so good. At this point is when business disagreements laid the ground works for a divorce; she kept the name, C.J. Walker and tossed in the Madam for decorations. Must admit that it has a nice ring to it, which made her a marketing genius.

Living A Legacy of Generosity

She traveled the country forming powerful alliances with other prominent black women, while her daughter ran the business. Madam C.J. Walker also joined the National Association of Colored Women. She became good friends with Mary McLeod Bethune, Ida B. Wells- Branett, who fought for women to have the right to vote. These powerful women helped her promote her hair products to black women around the world.

Eventually, Madam C.J. Walker had to retire in her $250,000 mansion that she had built by a black architect, naming it the “Villa Lewaro.” Before she died in May 1919 she left a legacy of generosity by donating thousands of dollars and built the Lelia College (named after her daughter), which taught the Walker System of Hair Care. She made a large contribution that helped pay for the mortgage of the late great Fredrick Douglas. Also, she was kind enough to start a trust fund for a West African industrial school. Evidently, Madam C.J. Walker put her money where her mouth was.

She single handedly made sure that black women could have healthy hair care products in stores around the country. While Madam C.J. Walker was growing up local stores refused to place black hair products on their shelves because they didn’t want black customers. Today, look inside the local grocery, supermarkets and drug stores, we have isles of black hair care products and plenty of weave. No pun intended.

Could you imagine black hair products not being in your favorite local supermarket? Please, leave a comment on your thoughts about this article. Share it on Twitter and Facebook if you felt inspired to pursue your dreams.

Madam C.J. Walker will never be forgotten…

Article Written by Kevin Dorival. Mentor, Inspirational Speaker and Author of The Courage To Believe