- Jul 2, 2003
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NNQueen said:This morning as I was getting ready for work I had the television on and there was this program being aired titled "Two Dollars". It was about the empire that Mme. C. J. Walker built during the pre and post depression era. I didn't get the chance to see it all but I found it extremely interesting in terms of what the corporation was able to accomplish in such a short span of time. What also amazed me was the diversification of products and services that the Walker company provided and jobs she created for Black people. What she and her company were able to do was unheard of for any Black person, much less a Black woman during that time--early 1900s. She died in 1919 at the age of 52 but her company survived and managed to continue growing. That's when I had to leave.
Does anyone know what happened to the company and the rest of the story?
You know, I was reflecting on Destee's question and it struck me that I haven't heard of any such global entities primarily financed by Blacks. And would this be the type of entities that are among the so called Fortune 500 corporations? And if there are some, why aren't they as widely known as many of them, i.e., Microsoft, Dell, etc.? This question makes you scratch your head wondering why this is!
Queenie
Queenie here is what I could find. Of course no one else had any interest in black hair care products. So she was able to grow and become as great as she has and was. I believe her products and pomade products are still in stores.
The site below has a picture of her too. She was born two years after the civil war, our ancestors had a lot on the ball, makes me wonder sometimes, what happened to us? Destee she was selling and well known in the United States and the Caribbean
http://www.princeton.edu/~mcbrown/display/walker.html
Madame C.J. Walker (Sarah Breedlove McWilliams Walker): Inventor, Businesswoman
The company was the Walker College of Hair Culture and Walker Manufacturing Company
(note: "The original Mme. C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company " )
In 1905 Sarah Breedlove developed a conditioning treatment for straightening hair. Starting with door-to-door sales of her cosmetics, Madame C.J. Walker amassed a fortune. About The Walker System
The elements of the System were a shampoo, a pomade "hair-grower", vigorous brushing, and the application of heated iron combs to the hair. The "method" transformed stubborn, lusterless hair into shining smoothness. The Madame C. J. Walker manufacturing Company employed principally women who, before the years that preceded the national growth of beauty shops in the United States, carried their treatments to the home. Known as "Walker Agents," they became familiar figures throughout the United States and Caribbean where they made their "house calls", always dressed in the characteristic white shirtwaists tucked into long black skirts and carrying the black satchels, containing preparations and combing apparatus necessary for dressing hair.
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http://itc.utk.edu/itc/grants/twt2000/modules/ebledso1/historical/c j walker dies.htm
" The success of the one preparation led the Madam on to several others, among them her famous straightening comb. "
Here is how she lived and tells what she died from.