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Biography of C. J. WalkerName: C. J. WalkerBirth Date: December 23, 1867 Death Date: May 25, 1919 Place of Birth: Delta, Louisiana, United States Nationality: American Gender: Female Occupations: businesswoman C. J. Walker As a manufacturer of hair care products for African American women, Madame C.J. Walker, born Sarah Breedlove (1867-1919), became one of the first American women millionaires.Madame C.J. Walker, named Sarah Breedlove at birth, was born December 23, 1867, in Delta, Louisiana, to Owen and Minerva Breedlove, both of whom were emancipated slaves. The Breedloves worked as sharecroppers on a cotton plantation. At the age of six Sarah was orphaned, and in 1878, after the cotton crop failed and a yellow fever epidemic struck, the young girl moved to Vicksburg to live with her sister Louvinia and to work as a domestic. She worked hard from the time that she was very young, suffered great poverty, and had little opportunity to get an education. In order to escape the oppressive environment created by Louvinia's husband, Sarah married Moses McWilliams when she was only fourteen years old. At eighteen she gave birth to …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…McLeod Bethune delivered the eulogy, and Walker was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. Her daughter, A'Lelia, succeeded her as president of the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company. Further Reading The only available full-length biography of Walker is On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker by her great-great granddaughter A'Leila Bundles (2001). Many articles, biographical sketches, and juvenile books have been written about Walker (sometimes called madam), including some by Bundles. Bundles' children's book is entitled Madam C.J. Walker (1991). Other books for youths are Penny Colman, Madam C.J. Walker: Building a Business Empire (1994); Marian Taylor, Madam C.J. Walker (1993); and Pat McKissack, Madam C.J. Walker: Self-Made Millionaire (1992). Biographical sketches of Walker appear in reference works such as the Dictionary of American Biography, Notable American Women, Notable Black American Women, Black Women in America, and the Dictionary of American Negro Biography. |