Madam C. J. Walker (Sarah Breedlove) Business Woman, Inventor Cosmetics & Hair Care Scott # 3181  Issued January 28, 1998 in Indianapolis, IA  Designed by Richard Sheaff

Sarah Breedlove was born on a Mississippi River plantation in Delta, Louisiana on December 23, 1867. Her parents, Owen and Minerva Breedlove were ex-slaves who made their living sharecropping on the Burney Plantation. 

Sarah started working in the cotton fields when she was six years old and by the time she was seven both her parents had died. She moved in with her older sister, Louvenia, but her sister's husband was both cruel and abusive. When Sarah was just fourteen she married Moses McWilliams to get away from her sister's husband.

In 1885 her only daughter, Lelia was born. Just two years later, she was widowed when her husband, Moses was killed by a lynch mob. Sarah and her daughter moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1887 and joined her four brothers who were working as barbers.  Sarah supported herself and her daughter for the next 17 years by working as a washerwoman. 

Sarah had begun to loose her hair during the 1890s and one night after praying for God to help restore her hair, she had a dream in which an African man appeared to her and told her about some secret ingredients that when mixed would restore and grow hair.  Sarah discovered a home remedy that actually restored hair and also developed other hair-care and cosmetic products.

She moved to Denver in 1905 and began selling her products. She married C.J. Walker, a newspaper journalist in that year and began calling herself Madam C. J. Walker.  She kept the name even though business differences with her husband quickly ended their marriage. Her business was doing so well by 1906 that she was able to quit doing laundry and devote full time to the business. 

White department stores and businesses would not stock or sell her products, so Madam Walker concentrated on building up a door to door and mail order business.  By 1910 business was so good that she opened up a new headquarters and constructed a factory in Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1910 the Walker Company employed over 3000 workers and had trained over 5000 female sales agents.

Madam Walker donated generously to charity, especially those charities headed by black women. She established beauty schools and funded scholarships. She also gave generously to the black YMCA, homes for the aged and the NAACP. When she died, two thirds of her estate were left to charitable and educational institutions.

Madam C.J. Walker was the first American woman of any race to become a self-made millionaire. She developed high blood pressure in 1918 and died of kidney failure on May 25, 1919. 

Sources: 
Encyclopedia Britannica  
Encyclopedia Africana