Sarah Breedlove (Madam C.J. Walker) (1867-1919)
Filed under the name Sarah · August 9, 2026
Sarah Breedlove was born to parents who'd been enslaved, worked as a laundress for a dollar and a half a day, and built a hair care business for Black women that made her one of the first American women, of any background, to become a self-made millionaire. I've spent 22 years driving through just about every part of this country, and you learn out on those roads how much of somebody's whole future can turn on whether anybody ever gave them a real chance at all. Nobody gave Madam C.J. Walker one. She built her own. And once she had that fortune, she didn't just sit on it — she funded scholarships, philanthropy, and civil rights causes, understanding better than most that success carries an obligation to open the road up wider behind you. I've got strong feelings about people who forget where the on-ramp was once they've made it to the highway. Walker never forgot. That's the whole story, really.