Sarah timeline

Madame C.J. Walker

By tejana74

  • The Declaration of Independence

  • The Revolutionary Way 1776-1781

  • Birth of Sarah Breedlove

    Madame C. J. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove on December 23, 1867, in Delta, Louisiana, to Owen and Minerva Breedlove. As emancipated slaves, the Breedloves worked as sharecroppers on the cotton plantation of the Burney family and lived amid dire poverty.

  • Orphaned at the age of six

  • The young orphan moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1878 to live with her older sister Louvenia and her husband Jesse Powell.

  • Yellow fever epidemic strikes killing many and the cotton crop was spoiled.

  • Walker married to Moses McWilliams at age 14 in Vicksburg.

  • Sarah and Moses celebrated the birth of their daighter Lelia.

  • At twenty one, the young widow and single mother was virtually penniless.

  • Walker migrated to the city in pursuit of more opportunities to secure better employment

  • Walker joined St. Paul’s African Methodist Episcopal Church

    Walker joined St. Paul’s African Methodist Episcopal Church and became involved in the National Association of Colored Women’s (NACW) activities, both of which sharpened her racial awareness and offered her new insight into the future’s possibilities.

  • Widowed at age 20 with a daughter, Tragically, McWillams died just two years later, reportedly at the hands of a lynch mob.

    A Lelia, she moved to St. Louis and attended public night schools and worked days as a washerwoman.

  • Sarah married John Davis in the fall.

  • Walker separated from Davis in 1903

  • Walker and Leila relocated to Denver, Colorado.

    Despite some success, she and her daughter relocated to Denver, Colorado, in 1905, following the death of her brother who lived there. Arriving with less than $2 in her pocket, she boarded with his widow and daughters and quickly sought work as a cook and sold Pope-Turnbo’s Wonderful Hair Grower in the community. As her business grew, she gradually traded her work as a domestic for manufacturing her own hair products. The move provided her with some agency of her own, and she and her family bega

  • Sarah moves to Denver, Colorado.

  • Invented a method for straightening African American "Kinky hair"

    Invented a method for straightening African American "Kinky hair"

    In 1905 she invented a method for straightening African-Americans' “kinky” hair: her method involved her own formula for a pomade, much brushing, and the use of heated combs.

  • Married a Denver Newspaper man Charles Joseph Walker

  • Madam Walker’s business boasted earnings in excess of $300

    Madam Walker’s business boasted earnings in excess of $300

    By 1907, Madam Walker’s business boasted earnings in excess of $300, a considerable sum when compared to the $40 to $60 monthly earnings of white male factory workers and astounding when juxtaposed to $8 to $20, the average earnings of black female domestics.
  • Madame Walker moved to Pittsburgh and opened Lelia college.

    Madame Walker moved to Pittsburgh and opened Lelia college.

    Her business became so successful that she opened an office in Pittsburgh in 1908, which she left in the charge of her daughter.
  • In 1908, she opened a college in Pittsburgh to train her "hair culturists."

    In 1908, she opened a college in Pittsburgh to train her "hair culturists."

  • Madam C. J. Walker settled in Indianapolis.

    Madam C. J. Walker settled in Indianapolis.

    It was there that she established the headquarters of Madame C. J. Walker Laboratories to manufacture cosmetics and train her sales beauticians. These “Walker Agents” became well known throughout the black communities of the United States and the Caribbean
  • By 1910, the company had tripled its 1907 earnings to boast almost $11,000 in revenues, the equivalent of almost $200,000 today.

    By 1910, the company had tripled its 1907 earnings to boast almost $11,000 in revenues, the equivalent of almost $200,000 today.

  • Lelia Walker was free to move to New York

    Lelia Walker was free to move to New York in 1914, where she expanded the company’s activities on the East Coast and opened an additional Lelia College. By the close of that year, her gross company earnings were over a million dollars.

  • Walker moved to New York

    Walker moved to New York in 1916 and built a lavish mansion, which she named “Villa Lewaro,” on the Hudson River.

  • Employeed 3,000 workers in America's largest black owned business

  • Madam C. J. Walker died

    Madam C. J. Walker died

    Madam C. J. Walker died on May 25, 1919, at her home in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York.