Born: December 23, 1867, Delta, LA

Education: Self-taught

Died: May 25, 1919, New York, NY

Coming of age in post-Reconstruction Louisiana, Walker battled poverty, segregation, and sexism as a field hand and domestic. She became an entrepreneur, creative marketer, and America's first self-made woman millionaire.

She determined to succeed. Denied a request to address the National Negro Business League (1912), in spite of her membership in good standing, she addressed the largely male delegates on the final day without permission, declaring “I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations... I have built my own factory on my own ground.”

Her products and marketing strategies were not original, however. Poro, her former employer, created the hot comb and “Wonderful Hair Grower” while other companies used mail order sales. But she was innovative via door-to-door sales, straightening and styling methods, opening a training school for her agents, and organizing a hair care workers’ union. By 1919 more than 25,000 women were selling Walker-brand combs and conditioners made in factories with state of the art equipment. Assisted by her daughter A'Lelia Bundles, a benefactress of the Harlem Renaissance, Madam Walker financed beauty parlors across the United States and Caribbean. At the same time, she joined, donated money to, and helped provide leadership in organizations fighting for African American freedom, justice, and progress.