Chapter Two

MADAME C J WALKER...

the first self-made female millionaire and truly remarkable woman

 (1867–1919)

Madam C J  Walker, born Sarah Breedlove, created specialized hair products for African-American hair and was the first American woman to become a millionaire through her own business. She would come to be known as the greatest benefactress of her race.

Born into difficult circumstances, Sarah's parents were poor ex-slaves who worked on a cotton farm in Louisiana. . She was orphaned by the time she was seven, a wife at fourteen, a mother at seventeen and a widow at twenty.

At the turn of the century there were few options for a black women to earn a living. Sarah became a washerwoman and then a cook. At thirty-three she began to lose her hair. Desperate to find help she claims...

"One night I had a dream, and in that dream a big black man appeared to me and told me what to mix up in 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. I tried it on my friends: it helped them. I made up my mind to begin to sell it."

The first product she made was called Madame C. J. Walker’s Wonderful Hair Grower. She used her own “before and after” pictures to demonstrate the products effectiveness. It focused on a clean and healthy scalp.

One side benefit was that the product also straightened the hair and made it more manageable.

She began by selling her product door to door, gaining a fiercely loyal clientele. An ingenious marketer and saleswoman, Madame Walker placed her system of hair care in Black colleges all over the United States. She advertised in Black newspapers, and eventually it became available in drug stores. 

Letters began pouring in from all over the country... women attesting to the benefits of her products.

Sarah developed the concept of  a "Beauty Culture" and emphasized cleanliness and professionalism with a strict outline for appearance, moral conduct and character.

At first she set up a correspondence course for her "Beauty Culture"  but she revolutionized the industry when she opened a Beauty College in New York City. Young black women were taught three things...

1 How to be neat, clean, properly attired and well mannered.
2 How to use Madame’s hair care system on customers.
3  How to sell Madame's hair care products.

She raised the black woman’s self-esteem and confidence about their own beauty and intelligence, empowering them economically.

The most revolutionary thing Madame Walker did was to recruit a sales force. She held public meetings and put on demonstrations in order to recruit women to become "Walker Agents."

Eventually she organized a National Convention for her "Walker Agents" giving away prizes and incentives to motivate her troops.

(Does this sound familiar... Mary Kay, Avon, Amway... Madame Walker definitely blazed a trail.)

At her passing she had recruited over 25,000 black women from the US, Central America, and the Caribbean. This was the grass roots of direct marketing.



Madame Walker lived in a 32 room mansion in Irvington, New York called Villa Lewaro. She left it as a monument to her name and as an example of what hard work can do. 

Her home in New York

"I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. From there I was promoted to the washtub. From there 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.  I had to make my own living and my own opportunity. But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them. 

Madame C J Walker

Two-thirds of all her fortune was left to African American charities.