1. Madam C. J. Walker Was the United States’ First Female Self-Made Millionaire
Madam C. J. Walker, born Sarah Breedlove, started her company, Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing, as a small door-to-door and mail-order business out of Denver, Colorado. Walker and her then-husband, from whom she took her surname, used his experience in selling newspaper ads to market her business of hair care products targeted towards Black women.
The business became especially popular with the Black population of Indianapolis, Indiana leading Walker to establish her manufacturing center in the city. The company was also popular with Black communities in Harlem, New York, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At its height, the business had over 20,000 employees nationwide. The high profits made Walker the first ever female (not just African-American woman, but any female) self-made millionaire in United States History.
Walker herself commented on her success, “There is no royal flower-strewn path to success. And if there is, I have not found it – for if I have accomplished anything in life it is because I have been willing to work hard.” When she died in 1919, her business was worth over one million dollars, which would be over 14 million dollars today. She also left a lasting legacy of philanthropic work benefiting the arts, which was continued by her daughter.