MADAM C. J. WALKER
1867–1919
African American businesswoman, activist, and philanthropist Madam C. J. Walker built an empire selling her hair products to black women against a backdrop of early 20th-century racial inequality. She also provided work opportunities for thousands of women of color while supporting many African American causes.
Sarah Breedlove (she later took the name Walker after marrying her second husband) was born in Louisiana in 1867, but she moved to Missouri in 1889 following the death of her first husband. A single parent, she found work in a laundry. In the late 1890s, she began to suffer ...
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