Madam C.J. Walker was born into slavery as Sarah Breedlove, but became the first self-made female millionaire in the US, creating a beauty empire that helped African-American women celebrate their natural beauty. Using her influence to push for anti-lynching laws before the Civil Rights Movement, she also became a model entrepreneur. Listen to writer Wendy Calhoun tell Madam C.J.’s story.
(Featured Image Credit: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library. (1911). Madam C.J. Walker (driving) with (left to right) her niece Anjetta Breedlove; Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company factory forelady (manager) Alice Kelly; and Walker Company bookkeeper Lucy Flint. Retrieved from http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47dd-c5a1-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99)
