A'Leilia Walker
A'Lelia McWilliams Walker Was Born On June 6, 1885 In Vicksburg Mississippi.
A'Lelia Was The Only Child Of Sarah Breedlove -- More Commonly Known As Madame C.J. Walker -- Who, After Being Abandoned By Lelia Father, Became A Washerwoman And Later An Entrepreneur Who Built Her Empire Developing Hair Products For Black Women. She Became The Country's First Female, Self-Made, Black Millionaire.
Walker Grew Up In St. Louis, Missouri, And Attended Knoxville College in Tennessee Before Going To Work For Her Mother.
She Helped Her Mother Establish The Mme. C. J. Walker Mfg. Co. In 1905. From 1908 To 1914 She Managed The Pittsburgh Branch Of Her Mother's Hair-Care Product Empire. She Also Oversaw Lelia College, A Cosmetology School Run By The Company And Became Manager Of The Walker College Of Hair Culture, Which Opened its New York Office And Beauty Salon In 1913.
When Her Mother Died In 1919, Walker Became President Of The Company, Inherited The Business And The Lavish Family Estate, Villa Lewaro, In Irvington, New York.
During The Harlem Renaissance She Hosted Parties In Her Town House (Which She Called The "Dark Tower") And Entertained Such Black Intellectuals As Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, James Weldon Johnson, Jean Toomer And Other Writers -- Collectively Called The Black Literati.
Her Regal African Beauty, Lavish Clothing, And Glamorous Lifestyle, Inspired Singers, Poets, And Sculptors Of The Period. Langston Hughes Called Her The "Joy Goddess Of Harlem's 1920's." Zora Neale Hurston Outlined A Play About Her And Her Mother And Carl Van Vechten Based His Nigger Heaven Character, Adora Boniface, On Her.
Walker Continued Her Extravagant Parties Throughout The Decade. The Parties Came To An End, However, With The Onset Of The Great Depression In 1929. And Years of Excessive Indulgence Of Both Food And Alcohol Took Their Toll On One Of Harlem's Most Visible Patrons.
On August 16, 1931, The New York Times Announced That Walker Had Died In The Early Morning Hours Of That Same Day. She Had Been Hosting A Birthday Party For A Friend At A House In Long Branch, New Jersey.
"In Order For Black History To Live, We Must Continue To Breathe Life Into It." -- Hubert Gaddy, Jr.
