History 1 1 1

SELECTION 1 History

X REVIEW the next selection to predict its purpose and organization and to for­mulate your learning plan.

Activate Schemata What business opportunities were available for women in the late 1800s? Why is hard work an important key to success? What else does i t take?

Establish a Purpose for Reading As a widowed mother wi th a child, she was working as a washerwoman and seemed destined to poverty. Read to find out how Madame C. J. Walker overcame obsta­cles, achieved success, and offered opportunities to others.

Increase Word Knowledge What do you know about these words?

entrepreneur bolstered

philanthropist undaunted

menial affluent

regimen bequeathing

salves legacy

Your instructor may give a true-false vocabulary review before or after reading.

Integrate Knowledge While Reading Questions have been inserted in the margins to stimulate your thinking while reading. Remember to

Predict Picture Relate Monitor Correct Annotate

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M A D A M C . J. WALKER: BUSINESS S A W Y TO GENEROUS PHILANTHROPY

• Little more than a century ago, when entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker founded her hair care and cosmetics empire, few women dared to imagine owning a business. Dur­ing an era when American women were denied the right to vote and most African Americans were excluded—by law and by custom—from the nation's most presti­gious universities, corporations, professions and government positions, Madam Walker transformed herself from an uneducated laundress into a corporate executive—and one of the country's earliest self-made female millionaires. At a time when most American women who worked outside the home were factory or domestic workers, Walker led an international sales force of thousands of financially independent

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Madam C. J. Walker sits proudly in the driver's seat of her own electric car. A'Lelia Bundles/Madam Walker Family Collect ion

10 African-American women. Her unlikely journey as a daughter of slaves, business­woman, philanthropist and political activist remains an inspiration and an example of what one woman with courage, perseverance and a generous spirit can accomplish.

DAUGHTER OF SLAVES

Born Sarah Breedlove in Delta, Louisiana, in December 1867, she was the first of her ->• five siblings to begin life as a free person. As a young child Sarah worked beside

15 her parents, Owen and Minerva Breedlove, in the same cotton plantation fields where they had been enslaved until the end of the American Civil War. Sadly, when Sarah was seven years old, both her parents died. With no schools for black children in her community and no job prospects, she married a man named Moses McWilliams when she was just 14 years old. By the age of 20, Sarah was a widow with a young child.

20 Unable to support herself and her daughter, Lelia, she joined her older brothers in St. Louis, Missouri. Sarah obtained a job as a laundress, earning barely over a dollar a week, but she was determined that her daughter receive more formal education than she had. While many people looked down on washerwomen like Sarah, she refused to be ashamed of menial, but honest, work. She did admit, however, that she was embar-

25 rassed by one aspect of her personal appearance: the severe scalp disease that was causing her to lose her hair. During the early 1900s, when most Americans lacked in­door plumbing and electricity, bathing was a luxury. As a result, Sarah and many other women were going bald because they washed their hair so infrequently, leaving it vulnerable to environmental hazards such as pollution, bacteria, and lice. To cure her

30 condition, she experimented with formulas until she discovered an ointment and a cleansing regimen that healed her scalp and allowed her hair to grow. She began selling her salves and teaching other women to groom and style their hair.

SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSWOMAN

Around this time Sarah met and married Charles Joseph Walker, a newspaper salesman, who helped her market and advertise her products. It was after their marriage in 1906

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35 that Sarah Breedlove began calling herself "Madam" C.J. Walker, a title of dignity and respect borrowed from the women who had created the French cosmetics and fashion industries. In 1910 Walker moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, where she built a factory, hair salon and beauty school to train her sales agents. She also became involved in the city's civic, cultural and political activities. Learning of a campaign to construct a YMCA

40 (Young Men's Christian Association) in the black community, she pledged $1,000 to the building fund. Her donation shocked her new neighbors because no black woman ever had contributed such a large sum to an organization like the YMCA. The laundress who once had made $1.50 a week now was earning enough money to help others.

Bolstered by the positive response to her gift, she set another goal for herself: to 45 address the delegates of the 1912 National Negro Business League (NNBL) conven­

tion. Arriving in Chicago with soaring confidence, she tried to share her rags-to-riches story with NNBL founder Booker T. Washington. Washington was by that time a figure of national stature and arguably the most powerful African-American leader of the era. For two days of the convention, he ignored her overture. Undaunted, Walker

50 waited patiently until the final day of the conference, at which point she stood from her seat and addressed Washington as he presided at the podium: "Surely you are not going to shut the door in my face. I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South," Walker said. " I was promoted to the washtub. From there I was promoted to the kitchen. And from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing

55 hair goods and preparations. I have built my own factory on my own ground!"

Washington was so shocked and annoyed that he still did not invite Walker to the stage, but he could no longer ignore her. The following year, Washington accepted Walker's invitation to be a guest in her Indianapolis home during the dedication of the new YMCA. Walker also contributed to the Tuskegee Institute (a school founded

60 by Washington in 1881 for the advancement of African Americans), funding schol­arships she created for African students there, which helped her further earn Washington's respect. At the 1913 NNBL convention Washington graciously wel­comed Walker as a keynote speaker.

Walker continued to expand her market and ventured beyond the United States 65 to Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Panama, and Costa Rica. She hoped that—through the

principles of entrepreneurship that had made her wealthy—her products could pro­vide prosperity for women of African descent all over the world. While she traveled, her daughter, Lelia, set to work opening another school and salon in an expensively decorated townhouse in New York City's predominantly African-American Harlem

70 neighborhood. As the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company continued to grow, Walker and her daughter organized their sales force into local and state clubs. Her Walker Hair Culturists Union of America convention in Philadelphia in 1917 drew 200 agents and became one of the first national meetings of American women gathered to discuss business and commerce. At the convention Walker happily lis-

^5 tened to stories from former maids, cooks, sharecroppers, and school teachers who now made more money than their former employers. As a reward, she gave prizes not only to the women who had sold the most products, but to the women who had contributed the most to charity in their communities.

POLITICAL ACTIVIST A N D PHILANTHROPIST

The next year, Walker moved into Villa Lewaro, a lavish estate in affluent Irvington-on-80 Hudson, New York, not far from the homes of oil mogul cum philanthropist John D.

Rockefeller and railroad baron Jay Gould (two of the richest men in U.S. history). With

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New York as her base, she became even more involved in political matters, joining the executive committee of the Silent Protest Parade, a July 1917 public demonstration in which more than 8,000 African Americans marched up Fifth Avenue to protest an East

85 St. Louis riot that had left 39 black men, women, and children dead. A few days later, she and a group of Harlem leaders visited the White House to urge President Woodrow Wilson to support legislation to make lynching a federal crime.

Just before she died in May 1919, Walker pledged $5,000—equivalent to about $65,000 in today's dollars—to the National Association for the Advancement of

90 Colored People's anti-lynching fund. A t the time, it was the largest gift that the civil rights organization ever had received. She also revised her wi l l to reflect her passion for education, children, and the elderly by directing two-thirds of future net profits of her estate to charity and bequeathing nearly $100,000 to individuals, edu­cational institutions, and orphanages.

LEGACY OF SUCCESS

—i 95 Today her legacy is best preserved in the aspirations of those who are inspired by her CAK I flunk o{ o-tkw entrepreneurial success and philanthropic generosity, like billionaire businesswoman AfvitAn. AMIKCAH. Oprah Winfrey and U.S. Small Business Administration Deputy Director Marie

tK.ow.tn. fak> Mut bun. I—^ Johns. In 1992 Walker was one of only 21 women inducted into the National Business succtesful in business? Hall of Fame at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

100 Whenever people asked Madam Walker the secret to her success, she would proudly tell them: "There is no royal flower-strewn path to success, and if there is, I have not found it, for whatever success I have attained has been the result of much hard work and many sleepless nights. I got my start by giving myself a start. So don't sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. You have to get up and make them for yourselves!"

(1,392 words)

—From America.gov Archive, March 1, 2010, Bureau of International Information Programs,

US- Department of State by A'Lelia Bundles

A'Lelia Bundles, a former ABC News producer and executive, is Madam Walker's biographer and great-great-granddaughter. Bundles' book, On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker (Scribner), was a 2001 New York Times Notable Book. She lives in Washington, D. C.

Stop to talk, write, and think about the selection.

Your instructor may choose to give you a true-false comprehension review.

WRITE ABOUT THE SELECTION MyReadingLab™

Complete this Exercise on myreadinglab.com

What aspects of Walker's life show that she was a clever business strategist as well as an energetic, persistent, and ambitious woman?

Response suggestion: List the details from this selection that demonstrate these character traits. Use your list to write a description of Madam C. J. Walker's character.

History 1 1 5

CHECK YOUR COMPREHENSION MyReadingLab™

After reading the selection, answer the following questions wi th a, b, c, or d. To help you analyze your strengths and weaknesses, the question types are indicated.

Main Idea

1 Complete this Exercise on myreadinglab.com

What is the best statement of the entire selection's main point?

a. Madam C. J. Walker's parents were slaves. b. Madam C. J. Walker rose from poverty to become a role model as

a successful businesswoman, political activist, and philanthropist. c. Anyone wi th courage and perseverance can become a wealthy

business owner. d. She gave money to help children, the elderly, and others i n the

community.

Inference 2. From this selection, we can conclude that a. Madam Walker's business grew out of a personal need for

specialized beauty products. b. Sarah Breedlove's parents died of old age. c. Sarah Breedlove's life was difficult in Louisiana and also when

she moved to St. Louis. d. Madam Walker was embarrassed by Booker T. Washington's

refusal to acknowledge her i n 1912.

Inference 3. From the details given in the passage, we can infer that a. Walker was born before slavery was abolished in the United

States b. Walker's family was ill-treated by their owners c. Walker was born shortly after slavery was abolished in the United

States d. Walker and her family were forced to leave the plantation on

which they worked

Detail 4. Which is a true statement about Madam Walker's business success?

a. Walker built a fortune selling beauty products for African-American women.

b. Walker started her business while she lived in Louisiana. c. Walker's business never expanded beyond the United States. d. Walker's husband, Charles J. Walker, was not helpful to her

business.

Inference 5. The details of Madam Walker's donations to charity in the section "Successful Businesswoman" suggest that

a. many people came to her asking for donations b. her only reason for giving was to help others c. she favored charities that helped women d. her donations were designed to build her business as well as to

help others

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Main Idea The main point of the section titled "Political Activist and Philan­thropist" is that

a. Madam Walker gave generously of her time, influence, and wealth to support causes of social justice and to help others

b. Madam Walker gave the equivalent of $65,000 in today's dollars to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's anti-lynching fund

c. Madam Walker's estate was near the homes of other wealthy people such as John D. Rockefeller and Jay Gould

d. Madam Walker was a caring individual

Detail

Main Idea

Detail

Inference

Many women in the early 1900s experienced hair loss because

a. they were malnourished b. they brushed and combed their hair too roughly c. they used dangerous products i n their hair d. i t was difficult to keep their hair and scalps clean

8. What is the main point of the section "Successful Businesswoman"?

a. Madam Walker's success was due to smart business decisions as well as to her support of the African-American community and desire to provide meaningful jobs for women of African descent.

b. Calling herself "Madam" was a turning point in Madam Walker's success.

c. Booker T. Washington's support was an important factor i n Madam Walker's success.

d. Madam Walker's business grew entirely because there was a high demand for her products.

9. Madam Walker's business was named :

a. Madam Walker's House of Beauty b. Madam C.J. Walker's Beauty Products c. Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company d. The Madam Walker Company

10. From Walker's quote at the end of the selection, we can conclude that

, a. she believed her success was largely the result of the help she received from her husband

b. she believed she was successful because of lucky circumstances c. she credited her success to her own hard work and determination d. she thought her success was due to her formal education

Detail

Answer the following wi th T (true) or F (false).

.11. According to this article, Walker was and always remained ashamed of her work as a washerwoman.

Detail 12. As a young mother, Breedlove received support from her brothers.

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Detail

Inference

Inference

13. Sarah Breedlove began calling herself "Madam" to mimic women who started French cosmetics and fashion companies.

14. I t was important to Walker to gain the respect of Booker T. Washington.

15. Walker's company hired African American women to sell its beauty products.

BUILD YOUR VOCABULARY MyReadingUb"

Complete this Exercise on myreadinglab.com

According to the way the italicized word was used i n the selection, select a, b, c, or d for the word or phrase that gives the best definition. The number in parentheses indicates the line of the passage in which the word is located.

1. "entrepreneur Madam C. J. Walker" (1) a. business owner b. celebrity c. risk taker d. restauranteur

2. "philanthropist and" (11) a. a very wealthy person b. a person who enjoys

beauty c. one who studies

anthropology d. one who promotes

human welfare

3. "ashamed of menial" (24) a. superior b. humble c. dirty d. difficult

4. "a cleansing regimen" (31) a. product b. cream c. soap d. a system or plan

5. "selling her salves" (32) a. shampoos b. hair sprays c. cosmetics d. ointments

6. "Bolstered by" (44) a. supported b. discouraged c. weakened d. criticized

7. "Undaunted, Walker waited" (49) a. fearless b. t imid c. shocked d. angry

8. ."estate in affluent" (79) a. average b. beautiful c. wealthy d. suburban _

9. "bequeathing nearly $100,000" (93) a. earning b. giving in a wi l l c. saving d. holding

.10. "Today her legacy" (95) a. something given from

the past b. a successful company c. a lesson d. spirit