Madam C.J. Walker: The First Black Female Millionaire

Madam C.J. Walker: The First Black Female Billionaire

In this virtual lecture, Rick Feingold will detail the life of Madam C.J. Walker, America's first female self-made millionaire.

Born in 19th Century rural Louisiana to former slaves, Sarah Breedlove rose to become the first female African-American self-made millionaire in the United States. Known as Madam C.J. Walker, she developed a line of beauty care products for black women. Walker built a factory, a hair salon, a mail-order business, and a beauty school which trained 20,000 sales agents. Later, she became a philanthropist and was active in organizing the NAACP's Silent Protest Parade in New York in 1917.

Presenter Rick Feingold teaches American Business History at Bergen Community College and holds a degree in History from Rutgers University.

This program is a collaboration between The Field Library of Peekskill, the Warner Library of Tarrytown, and the Irvington Public Library. Hosted on Zoom; free and open to all. Register here: https://bit.ly/3rGNHtC.

* Registration for this program will be handled by the Irvington Public Library.