Speaking Engagements
by A'Lelia Bundles
FAQ
Posted February 6th, 2008 by kejordan
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
If you are a student who is writing a report, we think that you will find the answers to most of your questions here. Please read this section before contacting us with questions.
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Q: When and where was Madam Walker born? Madam C. J. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove on December 23, 1867. The fifth of Owen and Minerva Anderson Breedlove's six children, she was the first Breedlove child born after the end of slavery. Q: When and where did Madam Walker die? Madam Walker died on May 25, 1919 at 51 years old of kidney failure and other complications due to hypertension at Villa Lewaro, her Irvington-on-Hudson , New York estate. She was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx . Q: Was Madam Walker the first self-made American woman millionaire? Was she the first African American millionaire? Madam Walker has been listed in past editions of the Guinness Book of World Records as the first self-made American woman millionaire, who neither inherited her money or married someone who was a millionaire. While it is impossible to document with a certainty that this is the case, at the time of her death Madam Walker's estate had an estimated value of $600,000 to $700,000 (equivalent to approximately $6 million to $7 million in today's dollars). The total sales of her company, the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, during the final year of her life reached more than $500,000, making the value of her company several times that amount. The combination of her personal assets (real estate, furnishings, jewelry, etc.) and the value of her business was well over $1,000,000. It is important to note that other wealthy African Americans—including Robert R. Church, Sr. (1839) of Memphis , Mary Ellen Pleasants (1814-1903) of San Francisco , Biddy Mason (1818-1891) of Los Angeles and Annie Malone of St. Louis —have also been described in other sources as millionaires. Q: How many siblings did Madam Walker have? Madam Walker had five siblings including one sister, Louvenia, and four brothers, Owen, Jr., Alexander, James and Solomon. For more information about her siblings, please see the family tree in On Her Own Ground by A'Lelia Bundles Q: What kind of education did Madam Walker have? Madam Walker received very little formal education as a child, except possibly at her family's small church in Delta, Louisiana where Reverend Curtis Pollard—a black man who had served as a Louisiana state senator during Reconstruction—was the minister. Sadly, by the time young Sarah Breedlove was old enough to attend school in the early 1870s, the white legislators refused to provide funds for the education of black children in Louisiana . After the death of her parents when she was only seven years old, Sarah had to work to help support the household where she lived with her sister and brother-in-law. Later, when she and her young daughter moved to St. Louis in the late 1880s, she had some opportunity to improve her reading and writing skills with the assistance of the women in her church, St. Paul AME. Years later, she would say that she had attended night school in St. Louis as she was starting her business. As Madam Walker was becoming a successful businesswoman, she hired Alice Kelly, who had been at teacher at a school in Kentucky , to be her private tutor so that she could enhance her education. In large part, Madam Walker was a self-educated woman because of the circumstances of her time. Q: I am writing a report. Where can I find primary source documents about Madam Walker? The Madam Walker papers are located at the Indiana Historical Society Library in Indianapolis . For more information go to http://www.indianahistory.org/library/ and http://www.indianahistory.org/library/manuscripts/collection_guides/walker1.html or call 317-232-1879. We suggest that you consult the suggested research sources which are listed on this website in the bibliography at http://www.madamcjwalker.com/bibliography.html . We also hope you will visit the main branch of your local public library to consult black newspapers from the early 1900s and that you ask the librarian if there are any archival materials about the black community in your town or city. Major manuscript collections of other famous African Americans who knew Madam Walker exist at the Library of Congress and at Howard University 's Moorland Spingarn Collection in Washington , D.C. and at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City . We recommend that you not rely solely on the Internet for your research because there is a great deal of inaccurate information about Madam Walker on the Internet. Q: Where did Madam Walker live? Madam Walker was born in Delta, Louisiana . Around 1878 she and her sister are believed to have moved across the Mississippi River to Vicksburg , Mississippi . After the death of her first husband, Moses McWilliams, she and her two year old daughter moved to St. Louis , where her brothers had established themselves as barbers. In 1905 after the death of her brothers and her separation from her second husband, John Davis, she moved to Denver , where she lived from July 1905 to September 1906 when she began a year of travel to promote her new company. From 1908 until early 1910 she lived in Pittsburgh , where she opened the first Lelia College of Beauty Culture to train Walker agents and “hair culturists.” In February 1910 she moved to Indianapolis , Indiana where she built a factory and expanded her business. Although Madam Walker moved her residence to New York in 1916, the headquarters of the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company remained in Indianapolis for more than seven decades. Q: Is there a Madam Walker museum? There are two National Historic Landmarks ( http://www.cr.nps.gov/ landmarks.htm .) associated with Madam Walker. The Madam Walker Theatre Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, which was home to the Madam Walker Manufacturing Company from the late 1920s until the mid-1980s is open to the public. For more information go to http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1817&ResourceType=Building . Villa Lewaro, Madam Walker's Irvington-on-Hudson , New York mansion, is a private residence which is not open to the public. “Designing for History,” a one-hour video about the house, can be purchased from Home and Garden TV's website in the on-line store at www.hgtv.com . For more information go to http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail. cfm?ResourceId=1652&ResourceType=Building or write to Villa Lewaro, 67 North Broadway, Irvington-on-Hudson , NY 10533 . Q: What awards did Madam Walker receive? Madam Walker has received much posthumous recognition as an inductee into the National Business Hall of Fame at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago ( http://www.ja.org/hof/past_laureates.shtml), the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York ( www.greatwomen.org/home.php and http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=163 ), the American Health and Beauty Aids Institute Hall of Fame in Chicago ( www.ahbai.org ) and the Black Wax Museum in Baltimore ( http://www.greatblacksinwax.org ) Madam Walker was honored in 1998 with a U. S. postage stamp as part of the Black Heritage Series. For more information go to http://esperstamps.org/h21.htm and http://esperstamps.org . Her Irvington-on-Hudson , New York home—known as Villa Lewaro—as well as the Madam Walker Theatre Center in Indianapolis are National Historic Landmarks Today many organizations and institutions present awards named after Madam Walker. Q: Did Madam Walker invent the straightening comb? No, Madam Walker did NOT invent the straightening comb. This erroneous claim seems to have originated during the 1920s after Madam Walker's death when the officers of the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company purchased a patent for a metal comb from a man who had supplied combs to Madam Walker during her lifetime. While much more research is required to determine which person or persons actually created the first straightening comb, there is evidence that such hair care implements were available at least as early as 1872 when Parisian Marcel Grateau perfected his Marcel Wave. Metal hot combs were sold in Sears and Bloomingdales catalogs during the 1880s to a predominantly white clientele. Madam Walker can be said to have been one of the people who “popularized” the use of the hot comb among black women because she taught many women how to use it, but she did NOT invent it. Q: I have seen fictional accounts, novels and other biographies about Madam Walker. Do these sources contain reliable information? We only recommend the following nonfiction biographies about Madam Walker by A'Lelia Bundles, her biographer and great-great-granddaughter. On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker (Scribner, 2001) is the only truly comprehensive, historically accurate biography of Madam Walker. Madam C. J. Walker: Entepreneur (Chelsea House, 1991) is written for young adult readers (approximately fifth grade through eighth grade). For early elementary school readers we recommend Vision of Beauty by Kathryn Lasky. The Walker books by Due, Lowry and Neihart are filled with errors and historical misinterpretations. For more information on why we do not recommend those books go to www.seeingblack.com/2003/x081503/bundles.shtml and http://www.tbwt.com/views/ specialrpt/specialrpt_0227.asp Q: Does the original Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company still exist? The original Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company was in business from 1905 to 1985, but the building that housed the factory and corporate headquarters still is opened to the public as the Madam Walker Theatre Center at 617 Indiana Avenue in Indianapolis, IN. For more information click on www.walkertheatre.com Q: Can I purchase the original Madam Walker hair care products? The original "Madam Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower" is not currently available. Please check your local beauty supply store for hair care products. If you are experiencing problems with hair loss, please see the next question and answer. Madam Walker's original five products were Madam Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower, Vegetable Shampoo, Glossine, Tetter Salve and Temple Salve. Q: My hair is falling out? What can I do? We recommend that you schedule an appointment with a dermatologist to determine the cause of your hair loss. Many people over-process their hair with chemicals or otherwise abuse their hair. Click here for more information. Students: After having read this section, if you still have questions please send your email to A'Lelia Bundles |