PR230

December 1946 Color Magazine
Madam CJ Walker Article and Ads

Born Sarah Breedlove, Madam C.J. Walker was the first child in her family to be born free. By the age of 7, both of Breedlove's parents had died and she was left an Orphan. As a result, she was sent to live with an older sister in Mississippi. At age 14 she married a man named Moses McWilliams and gave birth to daughter A’Lelia. After the death of her husband, Breedlove and her daughter moved to St. Louis where she found work and was able to send her daughter to school. While in St. Louis she also met her husband Charles J. Walker who worked in advertising. Eventually, Breedlove developed a scalp disorder that caused her to lose much of her hair. She began to search for remedies both on store shelves and in her own home. It was through testing of home remedies that she began to develop her own brand which her husband helped her with. Her husband was also the one who encouraged her to use the name “Madam C.J. Walker.

​In 1907 Walker and her husband traveled around the south and southeast promoting her line of hair care products and giving lecture demonstrations of her “Walker Method”. The method included her product along with brushing and using a heated comb. By 1910, the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing company created profits that are the modern day equivalent to several million dollars.

Sources https://www.biography.com/inventor/madam-cj-walker and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madam_C._J._Walker
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