Madam C. J. Walker in her Ford – the first self-made female millionaire in America

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The sturdy lady at the wheel of her Ford is Sarah Breedlove, better known as Madam C. J. Walker. Born in Louisiana in 1867, she was the first member of her family not to be born into slavery. Life, however, was far from easy. Her mother died when she was just four; her father followed three years later. At 14 she married, largely to escape mistreatment at the hands of her brother-in-law, and by 20 she was already a widow. But fortune would turn.

Struggling with hair loss, Sarah began developing her own hair-care products, selling them door-to-door. Under the name of her third husband, the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company flourished, soon expanding into cosmetics. A factory and laboratory followed, then a salon and beauty school to train her sales agents – all of them women. At the height of her career, between 1911 and 1919, several thousand were working for her.

A brilliant businesswoman, Madam Walker became America’s first female self-made millionaire, as recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records. She was also a philanthropist, political campaigner and social activist. At an annual convention in 1912, she declared:

"I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. From there, I was promoted to the washtub. From there, I was promoted to the cook kitchen. And from there, I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations. I have built my own factory on my own ground.”

She died in 1919 at the age of 52, but her reputation grew even greater in the 1920s, as her company expanded beyond the United States. Alongside her cosmetics empire, she left behind a ballroom, a theatre, a museum, a historical society and a radio station, and she donated generously to schools and orphanages.

The photograph of her at the wheel of her Ford – accompanied by her niece Anjetta Breedlove, bookkeeper Lucy Flint and factory forelady Alice Kelly – has become a symbol in its own right, appearing on book covers, clothing and even handbags.

Words: Jeroen Booij
Picture: New York Public Library

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