Madam C.J. Walker

Sarah Breedlove, who would ultimately earn her place in history as Madam C. J. Walker, was born on December 23, 1867, on a sprawling plantation in Delta, Louisiana.

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In this landscape, her parents, Owen and Minerva Anderson Breedlove, had once endured the shackles of enslavement before the Civil War reshaped their world. From her humble beginnings as an uneducated farm laborer and laundress, she emerged as one of the most illustrious self-made female entrepreneurs of the twentieth century, overcoming immense challenges along the way.

Orphaned at the tender age of seven, she resolutely proclaimed, "I got my start by giving myself a start." Alongside her older sister Louvenia, she faced the grueling reality of survival by laboring in the cotton fields of the Delta and nearby Vicksburg, Mississippi. At just 14, she made a daring choice to marry Moses McWilliams, seeking refuge from the cruelty of her oppressive brother-in-law, Jesse Powell.

Her daughter, Lelia, born on June 6, 1885, later emerged as the remarkable A'Lelia Walker. After her husband's untimely death two years later, Sarah relocated to St. Louis to join her four brothers, who had successfully established themselves as barbers in the bustling city. Despite earning as little as $1.50 a day, she tenaciously saved enough to provide her daughter with an education in the local public schools. The strong bonds forged with other Black women at the St. Paul A.M.E. Church and through the National Association of Colored Women introduced her to a wealth of fresh ideas and perspectives on life.