The upcoming Netflix series will tell the true story of Madam CJ Walker (played by Octavia Spencer), who is remembered for being America’s first black woman to become a millionaire thanks to her ongoing hard work. The show is going to follow her struggles from being the daughter of a former slave, sexism and her eventual success. So who is the woman behind the story? Express.co.uk spoke to Pro Vice-Chancellor Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Education at the University of Derby, Professor Keith McLay to find out more.
Who was Madam CJ Walker?
Madam CJ Walker, who was born Sarah Breedlove, was the first free born daughter of former African American slaves on a Louisianan cotton plantation.
When she died in 1919, she left behind a company and estate worth an estimated £6 million ($8 million) in today’s money.
So how did Mrs Walker turn things around to become a millionaire?
Her success started with one of the many jobs she took on over the years.
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She had worked as a domestic servant and a washer woman before working for African American Annie Malone’s haircare company Poro.
While she was at Poro, she suffered from scalp diseases which left her head itchy and caused some of her hair to start falling out.
But with help from what she learnt at Poro and from her brothers who were all barbers, she developed her own brand of haircare and beauty products to help with the problems she had been going through.
In 1908, she moved to Philadelphia with her third husband where she set up a beauty salon and two years later, opened a second in Indiana where she then relocated to open a factory, more salons, training institutes and a laboratory.
But there was more to Madam Walker than the haircare business.
Professor McLay explained: “Madam CJ walker was not only a prominent businesswoman and entrepreneur but also an activist, educationalist and philanthropist within, and for, the African American community in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.”
Not only did she employ thousands of women and helped to train even more, she delivered lectures on business, politics, economics to the National Negro Business League (NNBL), to the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) as well as other conventions.
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Madam Walker also regularly donated to causes such as the YMCA and contributed to funding which preserved the home of abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass’ home in Washington.
On the side, she even mentored and educated other African American women about the basics of budgeting and running businesses in the hope they would also go on to lead independent lives.
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Professor McLay continued: “Madam Walker’s legacy and importance lies in her backstory and life narrative.
“Put simply, she was one of a very, very few African American women born in the [aftermath] of the American Civil War, a conflict about the legitimacy of slavery as much as that of States’ rights, to rise to prominence in business and entrepreneurship and to combine both with a social activism and commitment to education which helped her community.
“Her life and voice need to be reclaimed from the history and the Netflix series should offer that opportunity.”
Self Made: Inspired By The Life Of Madam C.J. Walker will be available from Friday, March 20, on Netflix.
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