Madam Cj WalkerBy: Alexa Coleman

Madam Cj Walker

History Originally born Sarah Breedlove on

12/23/1867 near Delta, Louisiana Born on cotton plantation as a free

slave Parents died causing her to move with

her sister and her husband he abused Sarah.

She got married at 14 and widowed at 20 with a child and moved to STL

Attended night school when possible

Job history She picked cotton and most likely did

house work when she moved with her sister.

When she moved to St. Louis she became a washer woman and earned $1.50 a day.

How it was originated Sarah had developed a scalp disease

because during winters they only washed their hair once if that so the dirt would build up and cause hair loss.

She was tired of loosing hair so she started experimenting.

Story of the building business

She started experimenting with home remedies and store bought treatments and she got hired as a commission agent and moved to Denver in 1905. Her second husband was a advertiser so he helped her advertise her products and encouraged her to use a memorable name and that’s where Madam CJ Walker came from.

History(cont.) So the couple started to travel door to door

and city to city in the south/ southeast area and they showed everyone how the products worked. In 1908 she opened up her own factory and beauty school in Pittsburgh. She moved it to Indianapolis and it became very successful and she trained people how to sell and to promote this message that African Americans are “cleanliness and loveliness”

cont She divorced her husband

in 1913 and traveled through the Caribbean and Latin America promoting her products. Her daughter stayed at home and looked for new property in Harlem. When she came back she worked from home and her forelady handled everything in Indianapolis.

Business today A company from Liberia

called Sundial and Walker’s great-great granddaughter brought back the products in May and they're in Sephora. In black hair care relaxers and perms have went down and natural products went up. They sell 4 different products for different hair types they price from $24-32.

Keys to success She never waited for

somebody to give her an approval on what she know she needed to do. She didn’t let her past define who she was as a person she used that and pushed herself to do better. She kept giving back to the community and mainly to the black people who was her clientele and she made them feel more whole as a person than what society said they were.

Compare and Contrast Walker’s business gave back to her people

and when I start my own business I want to have the same opportunity.

I don’t have the struggle she went through but I still have the motivation to go get it like she did.

She worked too hard which caused her to die but she still enjoyed life but I want to be able to live long and see how my business affects people and enjoy everything.

Fun facts She was a civil rights activist She had a 34 room mansion that she held

meetings at and loved to show off She started the Walker theater for

education and arts for African Americans Helped start the NAACP She helped make the hot comb She’s on a US postage stamp, a play about

her and in the national women’s hall of fame.