Owen and Minerva Breedlove were sharecroppers who were born enslaved. In Delta, Louisiana on December 23rd, 1867, they had Sarah. She was their fifth child and also the first within her family to be born free.
Sarah became an orphan when she was 7 years old due to both of her parents dying. This led to her living with Louvenia, Sarahs older sister, in which they worked in the cotton fields.
Sarah had a brother-in-law named Jesse Powell and because he was abusive, she married a man named Moses McWilliams at 14 years old to get away from him.
Sarah and Moses had their first child together in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Her name is ALelia Walker (ALelia added an A to the beginning of her name after Sarah had died).
Moses died and Sarah was left to care for their daughter. This led to her moving to be with her three brothers who were barbers in St. Louis. When she moved, she worked as a laundress and went to night school.
Sarahs hair, along with other womens hair at the time, had begun to become brittle causing them to lose their hair. This was caused by scalp diseases such as dandruff and poor hygiene.
Sarah started to try out different mixtures she concocted and created a formula that included sulfur that promotes hair growth. She sold her formula within Black neighborhoods by going door to door.
Sarah married John Davis who was a laundry worker.
Sarah leaves John Davis.
Sarah had married her third husband, Charles Joseph (C.J.) Walker.
She also started gaining success in the Walker Method which was also known as the Walker System of Beauty Culture. This system was designed to make brittle hair soft and thick. This included shampoo, a pomade for hair growth, heavy brushing, and an iron comb. This led to her being known as Madam C.J. Walker
Madam C.J. had built a laboratory, a hair salon factory, and a beauty school and moved the headquarters of her business to Indianapolis. Her business grew at a very fast rate and she became the first self-made female millionaire in the United States.
Madam C.Js company The Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company had reportedly tried +20,000 women to be sales agents to sell her products throughout the country.
Due to high blood pressure causing complications to her health, Madam C.J. Walker died at the age of 51. His estate was worth about 1-2 million dollars