Madam C.J. Walker

   Today I want to tell you about an inspiring entrepreneur named Madam C.J. Walker. I am a big believer in the American dream. Here in America someone can be born into poverty and work their way to prosperity. This country has flourished because of capitalism and a free market that enables even the poorest to make a better life for themselves. Today there are many who criticize capitalism in America. They say it is unfair because there are some people who do not have as much as others. They feel that everyone should have an equal amount of wealth, that it is unfair for someone to be wealthy when there are many living paycheck to paycheck. In an effort to equalize the amount of wealth from individual to individual they in turn take away our freedom. They create a sense of entitlement. They make the people lazy.
    America did not become great because of anything the government has done. Too many people look to the government for answers to today's problems. The heart of America is not the government. Nor is it Congress or the President. The heart of America is the people. The people, with the help of God, built this country and they didn't do it by looking to the government for answers. No, they got out of their homes and went to work. A lot of the greatness of America came from good old fashioned hard work. Unfortunately, the work ethic in America today is pathetic. If someone has a problem they ask what the government will do to fix it. If someone can't find a job they ask the government to give them unemployment benefits. If someone can't buy groceries they ask the government for help. Imagine what would happen if people started figuring out ways to solve their problems without government help. Imagine an America where people didn't depend on government support for their everyday needs.
   I want to give you an example of the type of people that make America great. Madam C.J. Walker was the first self made female millionaire. That may sound impressive enough but the details surrounding her story make it even more meaningful.
   Madam C.J. Walker's actual name at birth was Sarah Breedlove. Her parents were slaves but she was  fortunate to be born on December 23, 1867 about four years after the Emancipation Proclamation. She was the sixth child, first to be born a free American. Both of her parents had died of yellow fever by the time she was six years old. Sarah moved in with her older sister and her husband. Her brother-in-law was a drunk and dealt cruelly with her. Looking for a chance to escape she married a man named Moses McWilliams at the tender age of 14. After three years of marriage they had a daughter together named Lelia McWilliams. Two years later Sarah's husband died and she was left without a husband to support her or her daughter.
   She moved to St. Louis where her three brothers lived and owned a barber shop. She got a job as a washer woman making barely over a dollar a day. But Sarah didn't want her daughter to grow up like this. She wanted her to be able to go to school and get a formal education.
   This is the pivotal part of the story. Sarah was a poor African American woman. There were not many opportunities for black women during those days. Even a white woman, who would have greater social  acceptance, would not even think to own a business. Women were still not allowed to vote. Most African American women were excluded from America's most prestigious universities, corporations, professions and government positions. The doors were not open for Sarah Breedlove. But she had a problem: She wanted to make more money. She wanted to send her daughter to school. She wanted to provide a better life for her family. She could have just accepted that this was how her life was meant to be. She could have looked to the government to help her out. But instead she chose to fight. She chose to not give up on herself and her dreams.
   Hair care during the 1900's was not very advanced. Many women were experiencing hair loss at an early age. An unhealthy diet, harsh products in soaps and poor hygiene practices were common causes for their hair loss. Most women only washed their hair once a month generally because most American homes lacked plumbing and electricity. Many African American women like Sarah would divide their hair into sections and wrap string tightly around each section and twist them to make their hair straighter. This put a lot of strain on their hair as well. Sarah developed a severe scalp disease that caused hair loss. She prayed for God to give her a way to keep from losing her hair. One night she had a dream where she was told ingredients for a hair cream. She got all of the ingredients and started using the cream. Miraculously her hair began to grow back. Her family and friends began to notice and asked for her to make them some of the cream. She realized that there was a huge demand for this product as many women were experiencing these same issues.
   Sarah began to learn about hair care from her brothers who owned a barber shop and she became a commissioned sales agent for an African American hair care entrepreneur Annie Turnble Malone. Taking her newly acquired knowledge on hair care, she moved to Denver Colorado to begin working on her own hair care products. She began her business on a capital of $1.25. Her product was called, "Madam Walkers Wonderful Hair Grower." She also sold Glessine and Vegetable Shampoo. She sold  her products door to door and did demonstrations at local churches and lodges.
   About this time she married a newspaper advertising salesman named Charles Joseph Walker. She took his name and gave herself the distinguished title "Madam," a name of dignity and respect. Charles was able to give Madam Walker advice on advertising and promoting her business.
   Madam Walker began to train other African American women in hair care and sales. She called them "beauty culturists." In 1906 she put her daughter Shelia in charge of the mail order side of the business which freed up her and her husband Charles to travel the country expanding the business.
   In 1908 she opened a beauty college in Pittsburgh to train hair culturists. She named the college Shelia College after her daughter.
   By 1910 Madam Walker was making $7,000 a week and had 5,000 sales agents all dressed in white blouses and long black skirts working for her throughout the U.S. She moved to Indianapolis, Indiana due to its favorable economic conditions. There she made her headquarters,built a factory, a hair salon, another beauty school to train her sales agents, and a laboratory to help with research for her hair products.
   In 1913 she got a divorce. When asked about it she said, "When we began to make $10 a day, he thought that was enough, that I ought to be satisfied. But I was convinced that my hair preparation would fill a long felt want. And when we found  it impossible to agree, due to narrowness of vision, I embarked on business for myself."
   Her business began to expand beyond the U.S. reaching Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Panama and Costa Rica.

Madam C.J. Walker's mansion in New York

   In 1917 Madam Walker convened her 1st annual conference of the Madam Walker Beauty Culturists in Philadelphia. At the conference she gave prizes to the women who had sold the most products and brought in the most new sales. She also strongly promoted generosity and gave a prize to those who had contributed the most to various charities in their communities. She taught black women how to budget so that they would be able to start their own businesses.
   Madam Walker began to have health issues. The busy lifestyle that she lived was giving her problems with her blood pressure. Her doctor told her to slow down but she didn't listen. She died at the age of 55 on May 25, 1919. At one of her speaking engagements she said, "I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. I was promoted to the washtub. From there I was promoted to the 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!"
   Another time when asked about the secret to her success she spoke, " There is no regal, flower-strewn path to success, and if there is, I have not found it, for whatever success I have attained has been the result of much hard work and sleepless nights. I got my start by giving myself a start. So don't sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. You have to get up and make them for yourselves."
    One of her sales agent wrote in 1913, " You opened  up a trade for hundreds of colored women to make an honest and profitable living where they make as much in one week as a months salary would bring from any other position that a colored woman can secure."
   When she wanted a better life, she found a way to do it herself and in the end she not only made a better life for herself but also improved the lives of many other women. It's stories like that of the life of Madam C.J. Walker that have made America thrive. The American dream is not that we are all rich and have a good job and have everything that we want. The American dream is that it is possible, and the key word here is possible, for you to have  good income and have the job you want and the education that you need. The American dream is that you can do anything that you set your mind to. But it is all up to you. Nobody can fulfill your dreams for you.