Series G · Makers
Madam C. J. Walker, Hair Culturist
Program: Cosmetology
Museum of VoTech · Makers
Madam C. J. Walker, Hair Culturist
1867–1919 · Louisiana, Denver, Indianapolis. Born Sarah Breedlove to formerly enslaved parents; orphaned young; a washerwoman by her twenties.
The product. Suffering hair loss, she developed hair-care products for Black women and sold them door to door.
The system. She trained thousands of "Walker agents" in her method, opened a beauty school, and built a factory in Indianapolis.
The business. Her company made her one of the wealthiest Black women in America; she funded schools, the YMCA and civil-rights causes.
The trade. Cosmetology is chemistry, sanitation, anatomy and business. Gallery G8 holds the chair.
Hall of Makers · a historical maker until local oral histories are recorded. Scan for the full story.
Scan for the reading · newschoolworks.com/q/CVUW24
CVUW24
CVUW2436 × 48 in portrait · aluminum composite, UV print, matte laminate · 112 words — within the 250-word rule · status
readingThe reading behind this panel
Benjamin Banneker, SurveyorDavid Drake, PotterEdna Lewis, ChefEmily Warren Roebling, Field EngineerFrederick Douglass, Ship CaulkerIsaac Myers, Shipyard BuilderLewis Latimer, DraftsmanMadam C. J. Walker, Hair CulturistMary Seacole, NursePaul Revere, CoppersmithRobert Smalls, Ship's PilotSamuel Yellin, Blacksmith
