Background

Background

Historical Context

      Sarah Breedlove was born two years after the Civil War. Her parents had recently been freed from slavery. Life was not easy in the South for former slaves. Sarah was born into a poor, sharecropping family. School for African-American children at this time was nonexistent. Education wasn't an option. Also, there were not many jobs available to African American women. In order to help her family she worked in the cotton fields. On Saturdays, she washed clothes for white people.
     After her husband died, she decided to move out of the South to make her life better. She continued to wash clothes. She developed scalp problems and looked for a cure. She met Annie Pope-Turnbo who sold hair products that promised to grow hair.  She becomes a door-to-door saleswoman selling these products.
     
     

The Beginning of Her Career

     In early 1905, she moved to Denver and continued to sell Poro products, and save as much money as she could to begin her own business. She began experimenting with the ingredients to make the product better. Her formula was a closely guarded secret. By November she rented a space and opened a laboratory.  She began advertising in black newspapers. She also began networking through the African Methodist Episocal (AME) church and social clubs. 
      That same year she became Madam C. J. Walker when she married Charles J. Walker. This will be the name she used on all of her products.

Smith Collection/Gado/age fotostock..