“I am not satisfied in making money for myself. I endeavor to provide employment for hundreds of the women of my race.”
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Madam C. J. Walker
Madam C. J. Walker, Mrs. Charles Joseph Walker upon her third marriage, was an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. Walker is recorded as the first woman to become a self-made millionaire in America in the Guinness Book of World Records. Multiple sources mention that although other women might have been the first, their wealth is not so well-documented.
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business · American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and activist (1867–1919) · businessperson · philanthropist · inventor · entrepreneur · also Madam C. J. Walker, Sarah Breedlove, Sarah Breedlove Walker, Walker
Born 23 December 1867 · Died 25 May 1919 · Q447716
33 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 7 entries
“It’ pretty hard for the Lord to guide you if you haven’t made up your mind which way to go.”
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“I am not ashamed of my past and don't intend to be ashamed of it.”
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“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.”
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“Don’t sit down and wait for opportunities to come. Get up and make them.”
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Public attention spiked: 2,997 Wikipedia readers in one day, 3.4× the usual 892, with 0 article edits.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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AOL: Madam C.J. Walker: The South’s First Female Beauty Mogul
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2023· 1 entry
Miami Herald: Who was Madam C.J. Walker? What you should know about the Black entrepreneur
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2022· 1 entry
Sundial Brands, a division of Unilever, launched a collection of eleven new products under the brand name "MADAM by Madam C
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2021· 1 entry
Snopes rated the claim “A photograph shows Madam C.J. Walker, the first woman to become a millionaire in the United States.” Mostly True.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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2020· 1 entry
Actress Octavia Spencer committed to portraying Walker in a television series based on On Her Own Ground, the biography of Walker written by Walker's great-great-granddaughter, A'Lelia Bundles
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2016· 1 entry
By Sundial Brands, a skincare and haircare company, in collaboration with Sephora in honor of Walker's legacy
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2011· 1 entry
insider.si.edu: Madam C.J. Walker - Hair Product Tin
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2006· 1 entry
Playwright and director Regina Taylor wrote The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove, recounting the history of Walker's struggles and success
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1993· 1 entry
Awarded National Women's Hall of Fame (1993).
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1919· 3 entries
Died 1919-05-25.
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From kidney failure and complications of hypertension at the age of 51
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Walker pledged $5,000 (the equivalent of about $88,000 in 2023) to the NAACP's anti-lynching fund
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1918· 1 entry
The National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) honored Walker for making the largest individual contribution to help preserve Frederick Douglass's Anacostia house
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1917· 3 entries
Inspired by the model of the National Association of Colored Women, Walker began organizing her sales agents into state and local clubs
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Walker joined the executive committee of the New York chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which organized the Silent Protest Parade on New York City's Fifth Avenue
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Walker commissioned Vertner Tandy, the first licensed black architect in New York City and a founding member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, to design her house in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York
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1916· 1 entry
Walker joined her in New York, leaving the day-to-day operation of her company to her management team in Indianapolis
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1912· 1 entry
Walker addressed an annual gathering of the National Negro Business League (NNBL) from the convention floor, where she declared: "I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South
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1910· 2 entries
Walker relocated her businesses to Indianapolis, where she established the headquarters for the Madam C
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When Walker established a new base in Indianapolis, A'Lelia ran the day-to-day operations in Pittsburgh
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1908· 1 entry
Walker and her husband relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where they opened a beauty parlor and established Lelia College to train "hair culturists"
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1906· 1 entry
Walker put A'Lelia in charge of the mail-order operation in Denver while she and Charles traveled throughout the southern and eastern United States to expand the business
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1894· 1 entry
But left her second husband, John Davis, around 1903
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1882· 1 entry
At the age of 14, Breedlove married Moses McWilliams whose age was unknown, to escape abuse from her brother-in-law, Jesse Powell
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1872· 1 entry
Likely from cholera; an epidemic had traveled with river passengers up the Mississippi, reaching Tennessee and related areas in 1873
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1867· 2 entries
Born 1867-12-23.
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“There is no royal flower-strewn path to success. 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.”
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