The First Female Self-Made Millionaires

Madam C.J. Walker was one of the first major female entrepreneurs in American History. She was born Sarah Breedlove in 1867 and has been recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in American history. Walker had a very difficult life. She was born in 1867 in Louisiana and was the first child in her family to be born after the Civil War and after slaves had been freed. By the time she was seven years old she had been orphaned and by the time she was 10, she moved in with her sister and brother-in-law. Unfortunately, she was suffering abuse at the hands of her brother-in-law and sought to escape it, and so by the age of 14 she married for the first time.[1]

In her lifetime, she worked for a woman and her company, this woman was Annie Malone, herself a young black woman. Eventually Walker would become her biggest competitor. Walker saw a market need in herself and other young black women. That was the ability to deal with dandruff, balding and skin disorders from different products that were commonly used.[2] She took her knowledge of haircare products and created her own line in 1905.[3] Malone’s company was largely focused on cosmetic products, not just hair products. This would eventually cause controversy over whether, or not, Walker had stolen Malone’s formula, though this never seemed to impact Walker’s business as it continued to grow until her death in 1919 at the age of 51. By that time, her company had been largely taken over by her daughter and continued to grow.

In studying the life of Annie Malone, it looks similar on the surface to Walker’s life. Malone was born in 1877 in Illinois. She was also one of the first female African American millionaires, but the disputed title of the first goes to Walker.[4] The reported worth of Malone and her company at the time of her death in 1957 was fourteen million dollars. This was reported in several newspapers and in her studies of her grandmother Madam C.J. Walker and her comparisons to Annie Malone, Walker’s granddaughter, A’Lelia Bundles, determined that the reports about Malone’s worth being $14 million at the time of her death was accurate. Bundles found that in 1918, Malone did $250,000 in sales and Walker Company did just shy of $276,000.[5]

Interestingly, articles such as Randle’s, I Am Not My Hair, leave out Malone’s company and products and chose to focus on Walker’s instead. In her article she largely focuses on the hair relaxer products and how straight hair was becoming the norm. She says, “Madam C.J. Walker’s 1905 hair softener, which was accompanied by a hair-straightening comb, is regarded as the first hair product developed and manufactured by, and sold to, Black people.”[6] We will never know if Walker took trade secrets from Malone’s company or created everything from scratch or improved a formula, but regardless of if the formulas were totally different, both women were incredibly successful. It is, however, interesting to note that Malone seems to be forgotten to history in most cases, and Walker is the one who receives more of the praise.

The Guinness Book of World Records would eventually award the title of first female self-made millionaire to Walker, who at the time of her death, in 1919, had a net worth of $1 million.[7] Whatever the truth, it cannot be denied that both Walker and Malone were among the first black women in America to become millionaires. Something that could not have been easy in the early twentieth century, in the wake of the Civil War. These women had a real impact on kickstarting women in business and paved the way for female entrepreneurs that still remains in the modern day.

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[1] Bundles, A'Lelia. On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker. New York: Scribner, 2002.

[2] Randle, Brenda A. "I Am Not My Hair: African American Women and Their Struggles with Embracing Natural Hair!" Race, Gender & Class, 2015: 114-121.

[3] Bundles, A'Lelia. "The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker." History News, 2003: 6-9.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Bundles, A'Lelia. The Facts about Madam C.J. Walker and Annie Malone. 2020. https://aleliabundles.com/the-facts-about-madam-c-j-walker-and-annie-malone/ (accessed July 20, 2021).

[6] Randle, Brenda A. "I Am Not My Hair: African American Women and Their Struggles with Embracing Natural Hair!" Race, Gender & Class, 2015: 114-121.

[7] Guinness World Records Limited. First self-made millionaires. 2020. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-self-made-millionairess (accessed July 20, 2021).

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Bibliography

Bundles, A'Lelia. On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker . New York: Scribner, 2002.

Bundles, A'Lelia. The Facts about Madam C.J. Walker and Annie Malone. 2020. https://aleliabundles.com/the-facts-about-madam-c-j-walker-and-annie-malone/ (accessed July 20, 2021).

Bundles, A'Lelia. "The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker." History News, 2003: 6-9.

Guinness World Records Limited. First self-made millionaires. 2020. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-self-made-millionairess (accessed July 20, 2021).

Randle, Brenda A. "I Am Not My Hair: African American Women and Their Struggles with Embracing Natural Hair!" Race, Gender & Class, 2015: 114-121.