Born Sarah Breedlove on December 23,1867, she was the fifth child and the first in her family to be born free. Both of her parents had been freed slaves, but were born into slavery. Her parents were both dead by the time she was seven. At this time she went to live with an older sister Louvinia and her brother-in-law. By the time she was fourteen she married her first husband Moses Mc Williams. She gave birth to a daughter a year later in 1885. Two years later Moses died and Sarah and her daughter both moved to St. Louis, where her brothers were established barbers. Ms. Mc Williams was employed as a washerwomen making $1.50 per day. With that amount of money she managed to send her daughter to public schools. At night she would attend school when she could.

While in St. Louis, she met her second husband Charles J. Walker, who worked in advertising.During the 1890’s Mrs. Walker developed a scalp disorder, causing the loss of much of her hair. She began experimenting with both home remedies and items that could be purchased from a store.

In 1905 she moved to Colorado when she accepted a position as a commissioned sales person for Annie Turnbo Malone who had a line of hair care products. While in Colorado Mrs. Walker’s husband began to help her in creating advertisements for the hair care products she was formulating. He also encouraged her to use a more recognizable name “Madam C.J.Walker”, by which she would eventually be known.

In 1907 just two years after moving to Denver, Walker and her husband began travelling the south promoting her hair care products and giving demonstrations on the “Walker Method”. This method involved the use of pomades and heated combs.

One woman making a difference for others to benefit from! True inspiration!