Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company

Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company
Private
Industry Cosmetics
Founded 1910
Founder Madame C.J. Walker
Headquarters Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Products Cosmetics
Revenue Increase
Website http://www.madamewalker.net

The Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company (Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Co., The Walker Company) was a United States African American cosmetics manufacturer incorporated in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1910 by Madame C. J. Walker. In 1911 Madame C.J. Walker was listed as the sole stakeholder of the company. The Walker Company was best known for its African-American cosmetics and hair care products in the twentieth century. The Walker Company is considered the most widely known and financially successful African-American owned business of the early twentieth century. In July 1981, the Walker Company was closed.[1]

History

1905-1909

Madame C.J. Walker, then Sarah Breedlove, first formed the idea of her company in Cherry Creek, a prosperous mining town in Denver, Colorado, in the early twentieth century. Madame claimed that the, "alkai-laden earth, whose salt content also affected agricultural output, leached nutrients from the hair."[2] In 1905, Madame became a sales agent for Annie Malone, an African-American businesswoman, and a cook at a boarding house. Edmund L. Scholtz, a wholesale druggist in Denver, offered to analyze Malone's formulas for Madame, and suggested that she, "leave out or put in more, and make the money herself."[3]

When Madame had saved enough money to resign from her position as cook at the boarding house, she purchased an attic which became her first laboratory, dedicated to the modification of her own haircare products based on those of Malone.[3] Madame sold her hair preparations door-to-door throughout the compact black community in Denver under the Roberts and Pope name.[2] The first advertisements for Madame's haircare products appeared in 1906 in The Statesman and featured a front and back image of her shoulder-length hair which boasted the growth was from only two years' treatment.[3]

In July 1906, Madame struck out on her own with her Madam Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower, and detached herself from Malone's Roberts and Pope company. Madame traveled from Pueblo, Colorado to Trinidad, Colorado, to Colorado Springs, Colorado, and back to Denver where she received her daughter, Lelia. in September 1906, Lelia took over Madame's business operations in Denver.[2] By May 1907, tensions between Malone and Madame came to a head, and The Statesman reported that Madame would discontinue business in Denver altogether and planned to travel throughout the southern United States and eventually to northern states.[2] Madame and her husband, C.J. traveled throughout the southern states for eighteen months and ran a mail-order business for Madame's products.

As she gained popularity, it became clear that Madame would need a temporary headquarters for her business--Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was chosen for its convenient and accessible shipping arrangements.[2] In the midst of Pittsburgh's 1908 economic crisis, Madame opened a hair parlor at 2518 Wylie Avenue among a number of other black businesses.[2] Madame also began training her own sales agents who learned Madame's hair preparations.[2] Madame placed Lelia in charge of these agents, while Madame traveled west to Ohio. At twenty-three, Lelia was sent to the Bluefield, West Virginia to survey untapped markets.[2]

1910–1981

In January 1910, Madame and her husband traveled to Louisville, Kentucky where Madame offered stock to Reverend Charles H. Parrish and Alice Kelly. The pair suggested that Madame write to Booker T. Washington for support of her company. Madame wrote to Washington, requesting his aid in raising $50,000 to form a stock company. Washington replied, "I hope very much you may be successful in organizing the stock company and that you may be successful in placing upon the market you preparation," but did not offer his assistance.[4]

Madame and her husband arrived in Indianapolis, Indiana on 10 February 1910. Seeking residence with Dr. Joseph Ward on Indiana Avenue, Indianapolis's African-American thoroughfare, Madame opened a salon in his home where she hosted sales agents and clients. Between February and April 1910, Madame grew her customer base. Multi-level marketing was Madame's most successful strategy.[2]

By August 1910, Madame had 950 sales agents and thousands of clients coming through the salon. With her client base growing, Madame sought out two Indianapolis lawyers, Freeman Ransom, and Robert Lee. In the summer of 1910, Madame asked Brokenburr to draft articles of incorporation for the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company of Indiana. The mission of the company was to, "sell a hairgrowing, beautifying, and scalp disease-curing preparation and clean scalps the same."[5] Madame, her husband, and daughter were named the sole members of the board of directors.[2]

In November, with funds from her mail order business and Ward residence salon, Madame purchased a brick home at 640 North West Street. By December Madame had added two more rooms and a bath with plans for the addition of a factory, laboratory, and salon.[6] According to Brokenburr's incorporation papers, the North West Street building was to be named the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company of Indiana.[7]

Marjorie Joyner (1896-1994) became an agent for Madame Walker. By 1919 Joyner was the national supervisor over Walker's 200 beauty schools. A major role was sending their hair stylists door-to-door, dressed in black skirts and white blouses with black satchels containing a range of beauty products that were applied in the customer's house. Joyner taught some 15,000 stylists over her fifty-year career. She was also a leader in developing new products, such as her permanent wave machine. She helped write the first cosmetology laws for the state of Illinois, and founded both a sorority and a national association for black beauticians. In 1987 the Smithsonian Institution in Washington opened an exhibit featuring Joyner's permanent wave machine and a replica of her original salon.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "845 F. 2d 326 - Mohr v. R Bowen Md". openjurist.org. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Bundles, A'Lelia (2001). On her own ground : the life and times of Madam C.J. Walker. New York: Scribner. pp. 79–91. ISBN 0684825821.
  3. 1 2 3 Bundles, A'Lelia (2001). On her own ground : the life and times of Madam C.J. Walker. New York: Scribner. ISBN 0684825821.
  4. ↑ Bundles, A'Lelia (2001). On her own ground : the life and times of Madam C.J. Walker. New York: Scribner. p. 101. ISBN 0684825821.
  5. ↑ Lewis, William M. (August 26, 1911). "The K. of P. Meeting". Indianapolis Freeman.
  6. ↑ Bundles, A'Lelia (2001). On her own ground : the life and times of Madam C.J. Walker. New York: Scribner. p. 105. ISBN 0684825821.
  7. ↑ Bundles, A'Lelia (2001). On her own ground : the life and times of Madam C.J. Walker. New York: Scribner. p. 109. ISBN 0684825821.
  8. ↑ Jessie Carney Smith, ed., Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture (2010) pp 435-38.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, April 30, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.