Madam C.J. Walker: two dollars and a dream

¶ … Dollars and a Dream an apt title given to a marvelous true story of incredible courage, conviction, determination and vision that transformed an entire generation of black Americans from slave children to aspiring entrepreneurs. Madame C.J. Walker, born Sarah Breedlove was an ordinary simple black woman with no distinguished lineage to boast of and with absolutely no money to spare in late 1800s but what she had was a dream- a dream that somehow revolutionized the way black women saw themselves. The woman who died at not so old age of 50 was a simple woman with extraordinary spirit who rose from dismal poverty to heights of wealth and fame to prove that it takes more than money to start and run an empire.

It is not for me [her mansion, the Villa Lewaral; it is for my people so that they can see what can be accomplished no matter what their background is." (Sarah Walker, Founder, Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company)

The fact that Madame Walker was a millionaire who laid the foundation of America's first black plutocratic dynasty is certainly incredible but what makes the whole story even more inspiring is the background that Walker came from. We all love a winner but don't we all love him more if he was an underdog once. That is exactly what Madame Walker was. A woman with vision but little else: Walker's story is a fairy-tale that inspired an entire generation of black Americans to think beyond their limitations and to have faith in the future.

Madame C.J. Walker, inventor of a hair-dekinking process, who was to become the first acknowledged social dictator of the Black Metropolis... had been a St. Louis laundress without distinguished heredity who liked to recall the day she wearily stole a nap on a rude wooden bench and 'dreamed a dream' which showed her a new method for transforming the stubborn lusterless crinkle of the Negro's hair into shining smoothness. With 'two dollars and a dream' she built a prosperous manufacturing concern which has touched the lives of nearly every woman in Black America." (Ottley: 171)

Sarah Breedlove was born on Burney plantation near Delta, Louisiana. Orphaned at the young age of six, Sarah learned the art of survival. With practically no formal education, she was at a significant disadvantage. Married at fourteen and widowed at the young age of nineteen, Walker moved to St. Louis, Missouri with her only daughter A'Leila. The woman who was destined to become a millionaire worked at several petty jobs including as a servant, cooking and cleaning to survive in cruel times of Reconstruction. Amazingly, little did she know that she would one day be ranked as the first American woman to be a self-made millionaire by the Guinness Book of Records.

Incredibly and almost unbelievably, Walker achieved this feat at a time when segregation was the rule, lynching was common and women were not allowed to vote. So what triggered the series of events that led a thirty-eight-year-old black washerwoman to become a businesswoman?

It was probably the fact that she started losing her hair and looked for some products that could help hair loss. But instead of buying commercial products, she analyzed the contents of hair products in the market and experimented with them in her kitchen. Prayers to God and believing in herself led to a vision that helped her develop a hair-growth treatment that put her on the path of amazing success and incredible fame.

Before Madame Walker's day, Negro women had tried many ways of straightening their hair in order to dress it in the current fashions. It had long been their practice to spread the freshly washed hair against a flat surface and press out the kinks with a heated flatiron. But irons were unwieldly for such a purpose, and the process was awkward and hazardous. Madame's long experience as an expert laundress proved of great value. After applying softening pomade, she carefully flattened out each snugly curled strand with a small iron comb she had invented. (Ottley, 171)

Walker created a niche for herself and her products knowing that there was a void in the market when it came to hair-straightening products. Black women were looking for a way to straighten their unruly lusterless hair Walker created the amazing "Wonderful Hair Grower" that was meant for hair growth but at the same time, she developed the special process for washing unruly hair, oiling it, and using a hot steel iron to straighten hair. With the passage of time, Walker's 23 products attracted annual gross earnings as high as $276,000 (1917) and her business employed around 3,000 employees most of whom were females. (Latham, 1993; Nelson, 1987).

In a short time Madame Walker had more customers she could accommodate. She set up a shop, trained other women to assist her, and soon founded a school from which graduates received diploma permitting them to operate shops of their own, using the ' Walker system'; always, however, with the solemn admonition not to call themselves 'hair straighteners.' They were crisply told to use the title 'hair culturist' or 'scalp specialist.' All necessary metal implements and ointments were purchased from Madame Walker, and so profitable was the sale of equipment and the return from tuitions that her yearly payroll mounted to more than two hundred thousand dollars. The dekinking process developed into a sizable industry, soon found vogue with crinkly-haired white women, and Madame Walker became a millionaire -- one of the first women, white or black, to achieve this goal by her own efforts in business." (Ottley: p. 171)

Walker had developed a strict code of conduct for women which was meant to empower females especially blacks. There was a respectable uniform that they were made to wear, consisting of white blouses and long black skirts. These uniforms helped in identification of Walker employees, these salespersons thus became a symbol of entrepreneurship and success for others in the downtrodden black areas. These uniforms also helped lure other females to the workforce and this helped in revolutionizing the way black women saw themselves and their future.

The hair products created by Walker became internationally known brands. They were widely used for various types of hair related problems and many celebrities also began using them including Josephine Baker, the American black nightclub performer who was well-known and well loved in France. The business soared beyond belief and within a few years, the Walker Empire was established. To successfully handle the growing business, Walker set up an office in Pittsburgh which was run by her daughter and later in 1910, a headquarters was established in Indianapolis. But her own business was not the only concern that Walker supervised, she also provided employment to thousands of poor black women and also established the Walker College of Hair Culture which produced many 'beauty culturists' of the time. With her determination, courage and a nevr-say-die attitude, she became a symbol of outstanding achievement for many women and helped produce successful entrepreneurs and educators.