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Title: On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker by A'Lelia Perry Bundles ISBN: 0-7434-3172-3 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: January, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.7 (23 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A true inspiration for all women!
Comment: 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.
Rating: 5
Summary: A compelling portrait of an American pioneer
Comment: 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.
Rating: 5
Summary: My Speech On Mrs. Walker
Comment: Mrs. Bundles,
I just wanted to let you know, I got an 'A' for my presentation on your great- great grandmother. My teacher told me that my speech was on a 2nd year speech class level and that I was like a piece of brass, I just needed some fine polishing. I may have a future in motivational speaking and I just had to thank you. The information in your book was not only factual and informative, but interesting to me as well as my mother and sisters. Our family history could be parallel to yours, except we have yet to find the key to financial success, but we will.
I have fully enjoyed your book and reading what you yourself have been able to accomplish has been an added inspiration to me.
Thank you for your time in guiding me to my 'A'
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Title: The Black Rose by Tananarive Due ISBN: 0345441567 Publisher: One World/Ballantine Pub. Date: 02 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Her Dream of Dreams : The Rise and Triumph of Madam C. J. Walker by Beverly Lowry ISBN: 0679446427 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 22 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: Madam C.J. Walker (Black Americans of Achievement) by A'Lelia Perry Bundles, Nathan I. Huggins ISBN: 0791002519 Publisher: Chelsea House Publishing Pub. Date: July, 1992 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Black Hair : Art, Style, and Culture by Ima Ebong, A'Lelia Perry Bundles ISBN: 0789306247 Publisher: Universe Books Pub. Date: October, 2001 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Hair Story : Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America by Lori L. Tharps, Ayana D. Byrd ISBN: 0312265999 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: February, 2001 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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