topic Re: This Queen in Community Chat

This Queen

Catitude — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 00:22:53 GMT

In honor of Black History Month...

This Queen was the first self-made female millionaire in America. From the cotton fields to the castle, Madame C.J. Walker's story is a powerful example of how to overcome obstacles and reclaim the throne...

“I am not ashamed of my past. I am not ashamed of my humble beginnings. 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 got my start by giving myself a start.” -Madam C.J. Walker

Photo courtesy of: Wikipedia

Re: This Queen

kittykatkay — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 00:26:40 GMT

Key word here is ....""Myself"". Truly inspiring.

Re: This Queen

croemer — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 00:39:29 GMT

It can be done. Where there is a will there is a way. Good for her and her strength and ingenuity.

Re: This Queen

sylviahomeatlast — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 01:50:02 GMT

...and that is what freedom is all about---an inspiration

Re: This Queen

esmerelda — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 01:53:52 GMT

Where did the people after her go wrong? If she could do it then, why can't they do it now with all the rights and opportunities?

Re: This Queen

esmerelda — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 02:55:40 GMT

Anyone?

Re: This Queen

bathina — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 03:00:15 GMT

Who are ""the people"" who went ""wrong""? Who are you referring to that ""can't do it now with all the rights and opportunities""?

Re: This Queen

scotttie — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 03:02:10 GMT

I dont' think I've heard of her before. Very inspiring.

Re: This Queen

RoughDraft — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 03:06:12 GMT

On 2/2/2014 bathina said:
Who are "the people" who went "wrong"? Who are you referring to that "can't do it now with all the rights and opportunities"?

Yeah, who are "the people who went wrong?" Is there a list somewhere?

Re: This Queen

RoughDraft — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 04:47:26 GMT

Interestingly, The Guinness Book of Records named Walker as the first woman to become a millionaire by her own achievements. Race was never mentioned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madam_C._J._Walker

Re: This Queen

Catitude — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 05:24:12 GMT

Madame C.J. Walker was America’s first self-made female millionaire. She amassed her fortune through hard work, innovative ideas, and a fierce dedication to her craft and her people. Contrary to most historical accounts, Madame C.J. Walker did not invent the pressing comb. Per her own words, Madame Walker started the “hair-growing” business, borne out her desire to remedy her own hair loss.

In 1910 Madame C.J. Walker moved her ever expanding “Special Correspondence Course” business, founded on her System of Beauty Culture, to Indianapolis. There she purchased and paid for her home adjoining which was a factory and laboratory. On September 2, 1911 she petitioned the Indiana Secretary of State to become incorporated and on September 19th, 1911, said petition was granted, marking the genesis of the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company of Indiana, Inc. wherein Madame Walker was the President and sole shareholder of all 1,000 shares of stock.

She was also an early civil rights advocate on behalf of Black people, and an avid financial supporter of what today we call HBCU”s or Historically Black Colleges and Universities. By the time of her passing in 1919, Madame C.J. Walker had built one of the largest black owned manufacturing companies in the world, an international network of over 15,000 Madame Walker agents, beauty schools in three states, and a 32 room mansion at Irvington-on-the-Hudson, New York.

Madame’s only child, A’Lelia Walker became President of the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company of Indiana upon her mother’s passing. Per Madame’s will, two-thirds of the stock of the Company was placed in a Trust, over which were five Trustees. The other one-third of the stock of the company was bequeathed to her only child. When A’Lelia died, the one-third share of stock she owned was “split” between two people, each receiving onesixth share. The majority two-thirds remained in the Trust.

Over six decades later, in 1985, the Trustees petitioned the Marion County Probate court to allow them to sell the stock and assets of Madame Walker’s company, including inventory and historical documents, to a man named Raymond Randolph. The owners of the remaining shares of stock also agreed to sell their shares to Raymond Randolph. Thus, on December 20th, 1985, Raymond L. Randolph became the first person since Madame C.J. Walker herself to own all 1000 shares of stock in the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company of Indiana, aka the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company.

Re: This Queen

Catitude — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 05:28:20 GMT

Sarah Breedlove McWilliams Walker, better known as Madame CJ Walker or Madame Walker, together with Marjorie Joyner revolutionized the hair care and cosmetics industry for African American women early in the 20th century.

Madame CJ Walker was born in 1867 in poverty-stricken rural Louisiana. The daughter of former slaves, she was orphaned at the age of seven. Walker and her older sister survived by working in the cotton fields of Delta and Vicksburg, Mississippi. She married at age fourteen and her only daughter was born in 1885. After her husband's death two years later, she traveled to St. Louis to join her four brothers who had established themselves as barbers. Working as a laundrywoman, she managed to save enough money to educate her daughter, and became involved in activities with the National Association of Colored Women.

During the 1890s, Sarah began to suffer from a scalp ailment that caused her to lose some of her hair. Embarrassed by her appearance, she experimented with a variety of home-made remedies and products made by another black woman entrepreneur, Annie Malone. In 1905, Sarah became a sales agent for Malone and moved to Denver, where she married Charles Joseph Walker.

Changing her name to Madame CJ Walker, Sarah founded her own business and began selling her own product called Madam Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower, a scalp conditioning and healing formula. To promote her products, she embarked on an exhausting sales drive throughout the South and Southeast selling her products door to door, giving demonstrations, and working on sales and marketing strategies. In 1908, she opened a college in Pittsburgh to train her "hair culturists."

Eventually, her products formed the basis of a thriving national corporation employing at one point over 3,000 people. Her Walker System, which included a broad offering of cosmetics, licensed Walker Agents, and Walker Schools offered meaningful employment and personal growth to thousands of Black women. Madame Walker’s aggressive marketing strategy combined with relentless ambition led her to be labeled as the first known African-American woman to become a self-made millionaire.

Having amassed a fortune in fifteen years, this pioneering businesswoman died at the age of 52. Her prescription for success was perseverance, hard work, faith in herself and in God, "honest business dealings" and of course, quality products. "There is no royal flower-strewn path to success," she once observed. "And if there is, I have not found it - for if I have accomplished anything in life it is because I have been willing to work hard."

An employee of Madame CJ Walker’s empire, Marjorie Joynerinvented an improved permanent wave machine. This device patented in 1928, curled or "permed" women’s hair for a relatively lengthy period of time. The wave machine was popular among women white and black allowing for longer-lasting wavy hair styles. Joyner went on to become a prominent figure in Madame CJ Walker’s industry, though she never profited directly from her invention, the assigned intellectual property of the Walker Company.

"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" - Madame Walker

Re: This Queen

Marienkaefer2 — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 05:34:27 GMT

Try reading Isabel Wilkerson' s "The Warmth of Other Suns."

There are many success stories in there,

BUT THE REASON THERE ARE NOT MORE is a something called JIM CROW.

Some people managed to break out of the bonds despite oppression, but many did not.

The social effects of this can still be seen today, whether you want to recognize it or not.

Re: This Queen

Catitude — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 05:40:17 GMT

A generous donor to black charities, Walker encouraged her agents to support black philanthropic work. She made the single largest donation to the successful 1918 effort by the National Association of Colored Women to purchase the home of Frederick Douglass so it could be preserved as a museum. She contributed generously to the National Association of Colored People (NAACP), to homes for the aged in St. Louis and Indianapolis, to needy in Indianapolis (especially during Christmas time), and the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) of Indianapolis. She funded scholarships for young women and men at Tuskegee Institute and contributed to Palmer Memorial Institute, a private secondary school for blacks in Sedalia, North Caroline, founded by her close friend Charlotte Hawkins Brown. Walker organized her agents into "Walker Clubs" in 1916, in preparation for her 1917 convention, and gave cash prizes to the clubs that did the largest amount of community philanthropic work. At the annual convention of Walker agents she always gave prizes most to the most generous local affiliate..

Re: This Queen

esmerelda — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 22:52:04 GMT

On 2/2/2014 Marienkaefer2 said:
Try reading Isabel Wilkerson' s "The Warmth of Other Suns."

There are many success stories in there,

BUT THE REASON THERE ARE NOT MORE is a something called JIM CROW.

Some people managed to break out of the bonds despite oppression, but many did not.

The social effects of this can still be seen today, whether you want to recognize it or not.

SINCE JIM Crow. I mentioned rights and opportunities. If she could do it then...during JIM Crow, before civil rights and EEO...why aren't more doing it now?

Re: This Queen

mgm2 — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 22:58:43 GMT

On 2/3/2014 esmerelda said:
On 2/2/2014 Marienkaefer2 said:
Try reading Isabel Wilkerson' s "The Warmth of Other Suns."

There are many success stories in there,

BUT THE REASON THERE ARE NOT MORE is a something called JIM CROW.

Some people managed to break out of the bonds despite oppression, but many did not.

The social effects of this can still be seen today, whether you want to recognize it or not.

SINCE JIM Crow. I mentioned rights and opportunities. If she could do it then...during JIM Crow, before civil rights and EEO...why aren't more doing it now?

There ARE more doing that NOW and there have successful people of color since the inception of this country esmerelda..YOU just haven't bothered to learn about them.

Re: This Queen

bathina — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 23:00:14 GMT

On 2/3/2014 esmerelda said:
On 2/2/2014 Marienkaefer2 said:
Try reading Isabel Wilkerson' s "The Warmth of Other Suns."

There are many success stories in there,

BUT THE REASON THERE ARE NOT MORE is a something called JIM CROW.

Some people managed to break out of the bonds despite oppression, but many did not.

The social effects of this can still be seen today, whether you want to recognize it or not.

SINCE JIM Crow. I mentioned rights and opportunities. If she could do it then...during JIM Crow, before civil rights and EEO...why aren't more doing it now?

With all your rights and opportunities, why aren't YOU a millionaire?

Re: This Queen

esmerelda — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 23:01:13 GMT

I'd ask you to name some, but I can google as well as you can.

Re: This Queen

esmerelda — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 23:01:53 GMT

On 2/3/2014 bathina said:
On 2/3/2014 esmerelda said:
On 2/2/2014 Marienkaefer2 said:
Try reading Isabel Wilkerson' s "The Warmth of Other Suns."

There are many success stories in there,

BUT THE REASON THERE ARE NOT MORE is a something called JIM CROW.

Some people managed to break out of the bonds despite oppression, but many did not.

The social effects of this can still be seen today, whether you want to recognize it or not.

SINCE JIM Crow. I mentioned rights and opportunities. If she could do it then...during JIM Crow, before civil rights and EEO...why aren't more doing it now?

With all your rights and opportunities, why aren't YOU a millionaire?

No need to make this about me.

Re: This Queen

bathina — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 23:02:55 GMT

On 2/3/2014 esmerelda said:
I'd ask you to name some, but I can google as well as you can.

You can't think of any successful black people without having to google? Really?