Madame C.J. Walker portrait

Walker descendant keeps rich legacy alive

By Nichole Nichols, My Salon Scoop writer

Before beauty giants like Pantene and L'Oreal realized the financial potential of creating a hair care line specifically for African American women's needs, there was Sarah Breedlove, or more commonly known as Madame C.J. Walker.

As a young woman in the 1890s, Walker experienced a scalp ailment that caused her to lose her hair. Undaunted, she experimented with different mixtures of home remedies and other store-bought products until finding the right combination to heal the scalp and promote hair growth. Seeing the financial potential and a way to help other black women in her position, she bottled her scalp cream in 1905 and sold it locally and across the country.

This personal experience catapulted Walker toward her destiny to becoming the first self-made American woman millionaire, and an outspoken community activist. Being in position to speak up for African-Americans was most important to Walker, says A'Lelia Bundles, Walker's great-great granddaughter.

"As Madame Walker's business became more successful, and she had more resources- more money-she realized that making money itself wasn't enough. The money became a means to an end," says Bundles, author, journalist and historian of her great-great-grandmother's legacy. "She really identified the things that were important to her: education for African Americans and civil rights."

A'Lelia Bundles, Walker's great-great granddaughter.

According to Walker's official Web site, which Bundles manages, Walker dedicated much of her time and money especially to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's anti-lynching movement, and donated $5,000 to the cause. She also traveled along with a group of leaders from Harlem to petition Washington for anti-lynching legislation.

"She knew that she had a spotlight on her, a platform to advocate for African Americans," Bundles says.

Industry visionary
Walker also was a master at networking. "Within her own profession there were no national conventions, so she created one," Bundles says.

In 1917, the first convention of the Madame C. J. Walker Hair Culturists Union of America was held in Philadelphia, ironically a year before Mary Kay Ash of Mary Kay Cosmetics was born.

"So she was already seeing this vision of bringing women together, training them, having them network with each other, having them pull strength from each other through the associations with each other," Bundles points out.

Modern-day Walkers
Bundles thinks entrepreneurs like Nadine Thompson of Warm Spirit and now SoulPurpose, and Lisa Price of Carol's Daughter are modern-day Madame C.J. Walkers.

"Nadine is somebody who is creating a workforce of primarily African-American women looking at ways to both enrich them financially, but also having them to pamper themselves and give back to the community," Bundles says. "I think Carol's Daughter is another company that exemplifies this sort of focus on black women and feeling good about yourself both inside and outside...I think there really are some women who are looking at ways to emulate the kind of quality products and care of the customer that Madame Walker was advocating."

Profile of woman with straight hair (Photo credit: iStockphoto)

"Our similarities lie in what motivated us to start our business: our desire to help, empower and educate other women on healthy hair care," Cartwright says. "I learned that she suffered from hair loss due to hair neglect and abuse. So did I. Educating ourselves and others on better hair care practices is the key to freedom."

Cartwright also makes instructional videos for her channel called Healthy Hair Journey on YouTube.

Bundles says she feels that today's industry competition is something that wasn't an obstacle in Walker's day. "It's a much, much more competitive business. When Madame Walker started there was no national or international cosmetics industry."

The massive amount of capital needed to compete in today's beauty industry is also something that Bundles sites as a big difference from Walker's time.

More work on the horizon

To keep her great-great grandmother's legacy alive, Bundles has written two books on Walker. She is working on a new book about her great-grandmother A'Lelia Walker, Madame C.J. Walker's daughter, and a crucial figure behind the Harlem Renaissance. In addition to her work on the Web site, Bundles also sits on the board of the Madame Walker Theater Center in Indianapolis.

As Bundles looks over all she is doing to keep Walker's accomplishments remembered, Bundles believes it is well worth the effort. "I do all I can to make sure that the profile stays high."

Nichole Nichols is a freelance writer who has written previously for MySalonScoop.com as well as Pink Magazine. She is based in Greensboro, NC.

Comments (2)

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Thanks for the Madam Walker story
written by A\'Lelia Bundles, March 21, 2010

Thanks to Nichole Nichols for this very informative story about Madam Walker. I just returned to DC from Nichole's hometown, Greensboro, where I spent time on speaking with students on Bennett's campus as well as at the new Civil Rights museum. I hope your readers will visit the "Hair" section of my website at www.madamcjwalker.com. If you'd really like to learn more , please check out my book, On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker.

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written by Maryam, May 16, 2010

This is really so sweet and nice. I am actually doing a speech on how Madam C.J. Walker is my role model. I'm using three traits that she expresses well and including an example for each. It's great that A'Lelia is continuing the legacy of how hair care first came to be!

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