Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Sarah Breedlove - A self made millionaire
Sarah Breedlove also known as Madam C.J. Walker, was an African-American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and a political and social activist. She was born on December 23, 1867 in Louisiana and died on May 25, 1919 in New York. She was the first American woman to become a self-made millionaire. After suffering from a scalp ailment which resulted in her own hair loss, she invented a line of African-American hair care products in 1905. She promoted her products by traveling around the country giving lecture-demonstrations and eventually established Madame C.J. Walker Laboratories to manufacture cosmetics and train sales beauticians. This made her the first American women self-made millionaire. In 1913, she donated the largest amount of money by an African American toward the construction of an Indianapolis YMCA. Also, Breedlove was a civil rights activist who was part of a delegation what traveled to the White House to petition President Woodrow Wilson to make lynching a federal crime.
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2 comments:
It is interesting how she became the first "black" American millionaire and donated money even though at that time people looked down at African- Americans.
In part, her wealth and fame was a by product of early segregation. The African Americans and the whites lived in the same country but arguably under two societies. Sarah would make her wealth by creating commerce with the African American and African Americans alone. The market for African American everyday products would be largely untouched by the Anglo Americans during the early 20th century. This allowed footing for a volatile African American Market. Sadly, this split would only lead to more segregation in the future.
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