Trailblazers

Sanctuary celebrates Black History Month with a woman of great courage, a cosmetics and hair entrepreneur, and one of the first feminists – a guiding light for generations of women of all races who have a dream.

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Madam C.J. Walker
​(1867-1919)
© Library of Congress

Madam C.J. Walker, née Sarah Breedlove, was born near Delta, Louisiana in 1867. She was married at the young age of 14 and widowed by the time she reached 20. But she was a woman who was determined to make something of herself. She became the richest self-made woman in the United States. How did she do it? Simple. With just two dollars and a dream, she created a formula for straightening Black women’s hair and did away forever with the “nappy-headed blues.” More importantly, she paved the way for thousands of women to work as sales agents as an alternative to domestic labor.

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Some interesting facts...

• ​She worked as a poorly paid washerwoman for more than a decade.
• She worked as a cook for a pharmacist.
• She perfected an ointment that healed dandruff and other hygiene-related ailments that were common during a time when most Americans lacked indoor plumbing. ​
• ​She was a philanthropist who provided scholarships for students at several Black colleges and boarding schools.
• Villa Lewaro, her Irvington, New York, mansion, is now a national historic landmark and a National Trust for Historic Preservation. ​
• ​​Before her death in 1919, Walker purchased property in downtown Indianapolis that became the site of the Madame Walker Theatre Center (1927), another national historic landmark.

Villa Lewaro in Irvington, NY
Photo: David Bohl (Free use image)

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Documentary: Two Dollars and a Dream

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