Interview with Madam CJ Walker

Simmons: Hello, Mrs. Walker. It is a pleasure to meet you.

Walker: It’s a pleasure to meet you too.

Simmons: So you were the first African-American female to become a millionaire. What made you become interested in the arts and having your own business?

Walker: Well, when I was growing up, most Whites weren’t too nice to us African-Americans. Black women worked for many long hours but weren’t paid as much as they should’ve been paid. We were servants, farmers, and we washed clothes. When I was about 5 years old, I would go out and pick cotton with my mother and sister. When we washed clothes, we would have to use rain water since the river water was dirty. We would go outside and grab these huge buckets filled with water and bring ‘em around to the back so we could wash the clothes.

Black women were never really treated with the respect they deserved. I knew that one day I was going to change that. You see, I didn’t want to just make money and be rich. I wanted to help black women feel good about themselves. I wanted to inspire people.

Simmons: I see. So did you have anyone that you looked up to for your inspiration, like a mentor?

Walker: I didn’t really have a mentor. I looked up to myself. “I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. From there I was promoted to the washtub. From there I was promoted to the cook kitchen. And from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations....I have built my own factory on my own ground.” (mygrowthplan.org)

I don’t think people need a mentor. The best mentor that a person can have is themselves. If you have positive thoughts, you can achieve almost anything. I mentored myself and I got pretty far. All you have to do is believe in yourself.

Simmons: That’s a very good message. So, I’ve heard about your inspiration and how you became interested in the arts. Were there any other people who were as involved with inspiration and hair care like you?

Walker: I don’t think too many people were in the hair business. It wasn’t really too important back then. A lot of people focused more on pieces of art, symphonies, and beautiful poetry. I think people care more about hair nowadays than ever before. People really didn’t care too much about appearance (It’s not like they didn’t care at all though).

Hair care was a lot harder during that time. African-American women especially had It hard. Normal hair products didn’t work too well with hair growth. When I began to lose my hair, I began to try and find a product I could use to help. It didn’t work out too well, so I began to create on my own. The result was my very own line of hair products.

Simmons: What was the culture like back then, and how did it influence you in your art?

Walker: Well, there were a lot of new inventions and plenty of historic events. I remember that on April 15, 1912 that big ship, the Titanic sunk on its way to America. The first parachute was invented, and the Girl Scouts of America was formed. There was also the initiation of the National Park Service. People were creating new forms of music and dances to go along with the songs.

African Americans weren’t treated any better. If anything, our treatment got worse. It was already enough that women in general weren’t treated equally. The worst part is that African-American women were treated even worse that white women. There was a suffrage parade in 1910. The 19^th amendment wasn’t passed until 1919.

Simmons: Did the economy have any effect on the work you did?

Walker: Well, I don’t think the economy had an effect on my work, but it was hard in other areas in my life. When the war started, we were in a recession. A lot of money was spent on the war. A lot of young men were drafted in the beginning of the war. Many people got jobs, but that was because we needed stuff for war.

Money was tight and supplies were running low. A lot of resources were being put into the war. That was the U.S. main focus. Towards the end of the war, we sort of bounced out of our recession. People needed war weapons and we had ‘em. So basically, I wasn’t affected in my work, but with supply loss.

Simmons: I see what you mean. What about politics? Did politics have any affect on you?

Walker: It’s the same as the economy, no real effect on me. Of course I didn’t want to have the U.S. enter the war in the east. A lot of lives were lost over there. I’m actually not even sure why we entered the war in the first place. Maybe the government wanted some kind of control or some power.

Women were asked to work in factories and in other male dominated jobs. With all the men going to war, women had to take over. I think this is when women should’ve started to get some recognition. With all the work women did to help prepare for the war, we should’ve gotten more respect. That didn’t happen till 1919. I’m just lucky that no one too close to me lost their life overseas.

Simmons: Yeah, some people weren’t as lucky as you. I guess you could say that was an accomplishment. What other major accomplishments did you have in your life?

Walker: One of my biggest accomplishments was becoming a self made millionaire. My third husband, Charles Joseph Walker, and my daughter helped me advertise my business. Lelia ran a mail-order operation from Denver while Charles and I toured the country promoting my business. Together we ran the Lelia College for Hair Culturists, a beauty school in Pittsburgh. Not only did I teach how to do hair, I helped many other African-American women to feel more confident.

I didn’t want to just help people, I wanted to inspire people. “She became an inspiration to many black women. Fully recognizing the power of her wealth and success she lectured to promote her business which in turn empowered other women in business.  She gave lectures on black issues at conventions sponsored by powerful black institutions. She also encouraged black Americans to support the cause of World War I and worked to have black veterans granted full respect” ("www.eduqna.com")

Simmons: It sounds like you did a lot of great things. Were there any opportunities that came to you that helped you to achieve so many things?

Walker: I wasn’t looking for any opportunities. “I had to make my own living and my own opportunity. But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them” (Allen)

There is no reason to wait for something to happen. If you give yourself a push in the right direction, you don’t need opportunities. You can do more things if you make your own decisions. Start your business on your own. “I got my start by giving myself a start” (Bellis)

Simmons: What kind of personal choices were you required to make in order to be as successful as you are?

Walker: What personal choices did I have to make? Hmm, let me see. One choice that I made was leaving my husband in order to expand my business.

Simmons: What hardships did you have to face in order to become successful?

Walker: I had to overcome the fact that African-Americans weren’t equal. I always wondered why I had to pick cotton when I was only 5 years old. It never seemed right to me. Not only was I African-American, I was a woman. If white women were not equal, then I was most definitely going to be treated badly.

No child wants to go out into the heat and pick cotton. No child wants to go and get buckets of rain water and wash clothes. As a matter of fact, I don’t think anyone wanted to do that. My parents must’ve had a hard childhood, since they were born into slavery. I’m just lucky that the work I did as a child wasn’t as horrible as the work my parents did.

Simmons: What kind of limitations did you run into as a person as well as an artist?

Walker: Well, as a person, being African-American was a huge limitation. I wasn’t treated equally and it wasn’t right at all. I remember I went to the movie theatre and they wouldn’t let me in because I wasn’t white. I ended up suing them and building my own theatre. There were also a lot of other things that white folk did to us African-Americans. We were beaten, killed, and even more horrible things.

In my work, a limitation is that some people wouldn’t buy my products because I was black. I didn’t really pay too much attention to them. I didn’t really care if they bought my products. As you can see, I ended up a millionaire anyways. So I guess that wasn’t a HUGE limitation but it still was a limitation.

Reference List

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Allen, Scott. "Quotations from Famous Entrepreneurs on Entrepreneurship." about.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr 2011. <http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/famousentrepreneurs/a/quotations.htm>.

"Madam C.J. Walker, 1867-1919: She Developed Hair-Care Products for Black Women." /www.voanews.com. N.p., 27 Jan 2007. Web. 11 Apr 2011. <http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/a-23-2007-01-27-voa1-83132542.html>.

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