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On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker

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On Her Own Ground details the life story of Madame C.J. Walker, best known for developing a line of hair care products. To know her only for this accomplishment would be short sighted, indeed. Born to slaves, Sarah Breedlove (her given name) was orphaned by age 7, married by age 14 and widowed with a small daughter by age 20. She was one of many women who took in washing to earn a living and to support her daughter. She began to experiment with hair salves when she noticed her hair was breaking and falling out. Tapping into a common problem for black women of the time, she began to produce and sell her discovery. This is also the story of a woman who was in the forefront of black educational and political movements of the early 1900's. She was friends (and sometimes adversaries) with many of the well known names of the time,including Booker T. Washington,Mary McLeod Bethune,and W.E.B DuBois. and a force behind providing educational and employment opportunities for African American women. Her daughter , who also helped run the family business was at the forefront of the Harlem Reniassance. Working against the prejudice of not only her race, but her sex, she built a family industry that exisits today ( although no longer in family hands).She built a home among the most wealthy of the time and enjoyed an income comprabable to any white, male executive of the time. A'Lelia Bundles has skillfully woven a complex portrait of a woman who shaped marketing techniques still used universally today. Using a wealth of family material (Bundles is the great-great granddaughter of Madam Walker)as well as other well documented sources, the author opens the door to a vibrant time in Black history, provides a historical context to help explain and compliment this amazing woman and tells a story so compelling that this is a hard book to put down.

Why should an adult in a career transition take the time to read a 300-page book on a woman who has been dead since 1919? What does the daughter of freed slaves, who lived through reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Harlem Renaissance have to say to us of the high-tech twenty-first century? Why do we read about the development of hair care products which have long been replaced and improved upon?

Fair questions. This new biography, written by the great-great granddaughter of Madam Walker, will surprise you, educate you, and (most importantly) motivate you. You have obstacles based on age, obsolete education, debt from college loans, child care problems, lack of confidence? Try comparing those with no education, a body stressed by laundry work and harsh chemicals, several husbands who abused her trust and undermined her business, mixed messages by her own community (including Booker T. Washington) about successful women, and an ungrateful daughter who never measured up to her work ethic and who enjoyed spending her mother's money.

Ms. Bundles, whose journalism credentials include a Columbia University education and experience as deputy bureau chief in the ABC News Bureau in Washington, has told the story of Madam Walker within the context that few of us have been taught. From the records of post-civil war Louisiana to nineteenth-century segregated railway journeys to northern cities, from the St. Louis World's Fair displays of ranking levels of civilization by race to the role influential African Americans played demanding justice for returning black soldiers from World War I, this book presents the cultural contexts which have been too long denied.

Read this book for inspiration. Read this book for understanding. Read this book because a potential employer might ask you, "What have you read recently?" You'll be proud of your answer.

To minimize Ms. Bundles' work as being merely a biography about a poor washerwoman who made her fortune in the then-unserved African American hair products market is to dismiss this wonderful work unfairly. "On Her Own Ground" is a wonderful portrait not just of Madam Walker's meteoric rise from abject poverty and cruel circumstances to unequaled wealth among the African American elite (and the non-African American elite, too), but about the politics of race and the politics within the African American leadership at the turn of the century. Simply put, Madam Walker was what was then known as a "race woman": A woman who used her money and influence to further the rights and opportunities of African Americans. Because of her immense wealth, she made herself a voice to be heard and a force to be reckoned with within the male-dominated African American leadership of her time (her refusing-to-be-denied quest to gain the respect of Booker T. Washington is sad, admirable and amusing all at the same time)and against the Jim Crow/"turn our heads and look away from racism" white leadership of the day. Her works on behalf of and huge donation to the black YMCA in Indianapolis, her $5,000 donation to the anti-lynching fund of the NAACP (the largest contribution to the NAACP at that time), and her charge that the Walker agents, the African American women who sold her products, not only better themselves but work towards the betterment of the race, made her a woman way ahead of her time. In reading this book, it made me question why my affirmative action generation has not accomplished nearly so much with so much more at our disposal.

On a different note, Ms. Bundles is not a historian and does not pass herself off as being one. Unlike many historians, when Ms. Bundles does not know a fact for certain, she clearly states so and offers her theories as to what might have happened during some of the gaps in Madam Walker's history. And, in an act of intellectually honesty that is becoming increasingly rare, she never passes off her theories as the only possible explanations of what could have occurred, allowing the reader to engage in conjecture on her own, which, in my view, is all the more engaging. A thoroughly enjoyable read which I predict will become required reading in college African American studies' curricula.

Mme. Walker's story is one that has been told many times in many ways. This telling is especially moving and compelling, certainly more so because it comes from the great-great- granddaughter of the amazing Sarah Breedlove Walker. Compared to other more fictionalized accounts of the Walker women, on every page this story reminds us that we need not invent history. The real story of what has come before leaves little room for any other lesser telling based on fantasy and conjecture.

What A'Lelia Bundles does here, as bespeakes her journalistic and humanitarian background, is wind the story of her family with the story of the times in which they lived. It is a dream come true for those of us who love to know more about the history of our elders. Indeed it gives context to actions in history which many of us have only heard of rather sporadically, without understanding how many seemingly minor incidents shaped the grander picture of history. So many little lights went on my mind as I read her extraordinarily researced tidbits of history. This easily-read tome should be required reading for every African American history class.

What the world needs now is many more women to realize their strength within...something that was the essence of Mme. Walker's life. In reading "On Her Own Ground"...we better understand a goal for any woman's life today.

Way before Oprah (and this is not to knock her achievements)there was Madam C.J.Walker -- businesswoman, philanthropist, civic leader, feminist -- a black woman with unswerving faith in her ability to realize the life she dreamed. She believed it and she achieved it.

A distinguished journalist who happens to be a direct descendant of Madam Walker, A'Leila Bundles has written a mesmerizing biography that will stand as the definitive account of the woman who revolutionized the black hair care industry. On Her Own Ground is unparalled in its contribution to the history of African-American women.

Those of all races, creeds and colors who are interested in success,perseverance and the pursuit of one's destiny should definitely read this book. Especially useful for aspiring entrepreneurs and independent business owners with hopes of achieving Bill Gatesian or Oprah-esque financial and civic clout.

I first learned about Madam C. J. Walker when I read The Black Rose by Tananarive Due in 2001. It was an exciting, well-written novel. I only became more entranced by this forgotten figure of history when the Due paid a visit to St. Louis that same year. In reviews I wrote in March and April of that year, I declared Madam to be my own heroine.

Although a year has passed, I've have read more about this fascinating woman. And the best evidence is the biography of her life, On Her Own Ground: The Life And Times of Madam C. J. Walker, written by her great-great-granddaughter, A'Lelia Bundles.

For those of you who don't know much about this remarkable late 19th-/early 20th century, here's a brief history lesson: Walker was born Sarah Breedlove in 1867 in Delta, Louisiana, and moved to St. Louis, Missouri, during her early adulthood. While laboring as a washerwoman there during the 1890s, she began to go bald. To control her hair loss, she developed a scalp treatment that made hair grow, which she claimed came to her in dream. During the early 1900s she became a sales agent for Annie Malone's hair care treatment, but felt hers was the better product. She marketed her product on the side, while working for Malone. In 1905, she married C. J. Walker, changed her name to "Madam C. J. Walker" and moved to Denver as an agent for St. Louis hair-care queen Annie Malone. In 1906, she formed her own company, the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, which would come to dominate the hair business until the mid 1980s and ultimately give her the financial means to empower her gender and her race. When she died at her elaborate New York mansion, Villa Lewaro, in 1919, she was the wealthiest African-American woman in the nation. Many believed her estate to be worth more than $1 million dollars, but in actuality, the estate was estimated at $600,000 (about $6 million in 2002 figures).

Bundles sets the record straight on Madam's life. Due, who was commissioned by the estate of the late Alex Haley, admits her book is more fiction than fact, but Bundles gives the factual part. From her rise as a child of freed slaves to the queen of hair culturalists, Walker was determined to make a better life for blacks in the United States. She supported anti-lynching laws, tussled with Booker T. Washington over women's issues, and took on the elite of her race in a variety of issues. She gave money to many causes, but only to those that served to better either other women or other blacks. She held parties, attended rallies and marches, and traveled the United States as much as possible, empowering women of the new century.

Bundles doesn't give many anecdotes about her famed ancestor's life. In fact, there isn't a whole lot of really personal information. The book is mostly about the times of Walker. If you've ever thought that blacks before Rosa Parks weren't concerned about segregation and other issues, you've got an eye-opener of a read awaiting you. On Her Own Ground: The Life And Times of Madam C. J. Walker is the riveting story of a woman destined to become a powerful figure and make a mark, her mark, on the landscape of the United States race issue. Madam Walker is still one of my heroines, and I hope she will become one of yours too.

This book helps you to appreciate our past generations and how their struggles were not that different from our own. Madam CJ Walker is more than a shinning example of what anyone with determination can accomplish. A'Lelia Bundles is truly blessed that her great-grandmother and grandmother left so much documentation her to quench her love of family history. The experiences and stories of those that knew them take you back in time. This book helped me to look at my grandmother's antiques differently. I used to view them as beautiful things I have grown up with and am comforted by, but now I realize that they hold the key to what I may have been searching for all of my life. Just as she was drawn to the her grandmother's dressing table so was I. We are blessed as black women to have such a rich heritage to share. A'Lelia carries with her the dignity and pride of her family that I wish all of our young people could express. I think reading this book will help everyone to look to their past in a quest for the future.

What a testament to the business acumen of a Black woman in the early 1900's. Madam is the Sojourner Truth of business and philanthropy.

I have long been inspired by Madam Walker's legacy, even before I knew all there was to know about her. After reading On Her Own Ground, I respect her even more because she refused to be defined by her lowly beginnings, her marital status, or who accepted or rejected her as a person (whether black or white). She never lost sight of her goals and she was unapologetic for it. Madam was consistent and courageous. What focus and vision!

What is most inspiring was her ability to duplicate herself by increasing the earning power of thousands of Black women and the impact that had on their children, families, and community. I don't think her model has been duplicated in modern times, even with all of our civil and voting rights. It's one thing for an individual to be successful and dole out money here and there; or for a company to be successful and only impact the lives of their immediate family. But to inspire and affect the economic status of a race of people is so powerful.

I give this book 5 stars because Madam was "all that" and because A'Lelia Bundles has done a magnificent job of capturing the essence of this woman and ensuring her rightful place in history. If this book does not become required reading in business schools, library reading programs, churches, business councils, etc., it has not reached it's full potential.

What Madame C. J. Walker was able to accomplish in her lifetime is simply remarkable given the numerous impediments she encountered. She is the epitome of the rags to riches success story -- as well an example of what guts and determination really mean. While the biography is well written -- it's the facts themselves that make Madame Walker's story so intriguing and inspiring. Walker went from extreme poverty to wealthy business owner, civil rights leader, and philanthropist.

Madame Walker grew up extremely poor in Mississippi, prior to and through the turn of the century, in a society that perpetuated violence on African Americans in frightening proportions. Not only did she have to endure the racism and violence of society at large, but her own home life was destitute and abusive as well. She moved to Saint Louis, becoming a laundress and caring for her daughter -- furnishing her with the best education and protective home life that she could muster given low wages and living in poorer neighborhoods. In an effort to make her and her daughter's life better she became a sales agent for hair care products, and seeing the potential to branch out on her own with her own formula, she gradually built a large, national sales force and began manufacturing her own hair care products. As a result she became one of the wealthiest women in America.

Walker was able to accomplish this despite extreme barriers. First, racism and sexism, especially in turn of the century America, could alone have stymied any ambitions she had. She clearly, however, had the help of the African American community, and that her product was marketed primarily to women and African Americans meant that she faced only one tough competitor in this niche market. Her vision allowed her build this into something more substantial -- a national brand name and sales force. Lacking formal education, she certainly chose those who helped her run her business wisely. And she overcame husbands (three in all, two that we know much about) who, in the long run, did more to hinder than help her.

What is truly heart warming about Walker is what she did once she became wealthy. She gave freely of her money to a wide range of causes to help her local communities, the African American community, the poor, civil rights organizations, and African American soldiers during World War I. She was very vocal and active in the civil rights movements of time and was also active and vocal in national (African American) business associations. This -- plus continuing to travel widely to build up her business! It is shocking that she not more widely known for her philanthropy and for being a leader in the civil rights movement -- not to mention being such an astute businesswoman.

And she had GUTS! She stood up to Booker T. Washington and forced him to let her speak at a National Negro Business League convention. She actively helped organize and fund civil rights organizations. She must have been quite robust as well. She traveled widely across the United States and a few times overseas. In the early 1900's traveling to such an extent must have been physically and mentally exhausting.

Madame C.J. Walker was a living tribute to her local communities, her race, and the nation. She deserves more than a postage stamp to commemorate her life.

This a wonderfully written biography on Madam C.J. Walker's life. I felt uplifted and inspired by her success as a business woman, as a human rights activist and as a philanthropist. A'Lelia Bundles, Madam Walker's great-great granddaughter, did an excellent job of transporting readers to 1867-1919 to experience the politicial, social and economical issues during Madam Walker's life time.

A'Lelia Bundles was very clear and truthful regarding the fact that Madam Walker did not invent the hot comb. Madam Walker's business provided hair and skin care products to women of color not only in the U.S., also to women in the Caribbean and in Cuba. It is my strong opinion that Madam Walker was one of the first people to develop the concept of self-empowerment and financial independence for women of color because she provided the opportunity to become a Walker sales agent to thousands of women across the U.S. Madam C.J. Walker's work as a human rights activist and her contributions as a philanthropist, impacted a countless number of institutions, organizations and individuals. On Her Own Ground is powerful, moving, enlighting and it is filled with courage!