7 Madam C. J. Walker

Madam C. J. Walker was the first African American woman in the United States to make a million dollars. She was born Sarah Breedlove in 1867 on a farm in Delta, Louisiana. Her family was very poor, and her life was very hard. They lived in a small house with a dirt floor and no windows. Sarah did not go to school. Every day she worked from morning to night in the cotton fields.

When Sarah was seven, her parents died. She went to Mississippi to live with her married sister. Her sister's husband was very mean to her. Sarah wanted to get away, so she got married when she was 14. A few years later, she had a baby girl named Lelia. When Sarah was only 20, her husband died. She moved to St. Louis, Missouri. For the next 18 years, she worked washing clothes for $1.50 a day. When she was 38, Sarah was worried because her hair was falling out. She tried different things on her hair, but nothing worked. One night she had a dream about what to mix up and use for her hair.It worked!Sarah gave it to her friends. It worked for them, too. She went from door to door to sell her new hair product. Then she made other hair care products. Soon she had her own business.

Sarah Breedlove married Charles Joseph Walker and opened several beauty shops under the name of Madam C. J. Walker. In 1910, she built a factory to make hair care products and face creams. By 1917, her company was the most successful African American-owned business in the United States. She started her business with only $1.50, but now she was rich. She had a mansion in New York. Madam Walker also gave a lot of money to charity. She wanted to help African Americans,especially women.But she did not enjoy her good life for very long. Madam Walker died at the age of 52. She left two-thirds of her fortune to charity. Her will said that the head of the C. J. Walker Company must always be a woman.