On My Own Ground: Madam C.J. Walker and Identity

Transcription

1 Cmpelling Questin On My Own Grund: Madam C.J. Walker and Identity Hw can a persn transfrm his/her identity frm ne f pverty and target f abuse t ne f pwer and genersity? Virtue: Identity Definitin Identity answers the questin, Wh am I? Lessn Overview In this lessn, students will examine events in the life f Madam C. J. Walker, analyzing bth her identity and her cntributins t American identity. Objectives Students will understand hw Madam C. J. Walker challenged the gender rles, prejudice, and discriminatin, f her times in America. Students will analyze their wn actins, gals, and ambitins t determine hw identity cntributes t achievement f wrthy gals. Backgrund Sarah Breedlve was brn in 1867 n the Delta, Luisiana plantatin where her parents had been enslaved prir t Sarah and her family, including five siblings, cntinued t wrk the same cttn fields as sharecrppers fllwing the Civil War. By the time she was seven, bth f Sarah s parents had died and she lived with her sister and brther-in-law, wrking in the fields and ding ther manual labr. At the age f furteen, in rder t escape the harsh treatment she received frm her brther-in-law, Sarah married Mses McWilliams. The cuple welcmed their daughter, A Lelia a cuple f years later, but when Sarah was nly twenty, her husband died. Sarah and her tddler mved t St. Luis where her brthers were successful barbers, and Sarah wrked alngside them, als taking in laundry t help make ends meet. A Lelia attended public schl in St. Luis, and Sarah jined the lcal African Methdist Episcpal Church, where she eagerly practiced her faith, made gd friends, and established her identity as a diligent wrker. These were the days f Jim Crw, when life fr black Americans invlved strict segregatin and limited ecnmic pprtunity. Hwever, fr black businesspeple wh develped prducts that met the needs f that segregated market, success was mre achievable. When she lived in St. Luis, Sarah began t suffer frm a scalp malady that caused her t lse her hair. She tried varius cmmercial preparatins, including thse made by Annie Malne, a black entrepreneur. Sarah even mved t Denver, where she became a sales agent fr Malne s prducts, prviding in-hme demnstratins and selling the shamps, ltins, and creams dr-t-dr. Vcabulary Sharecrppers African Methdist Episcpal Church Jim Crw Segregatin Malady Entrepreneur Indefatigable Lye Deplre Cmmissin system Walker System Refinement Charitable Fervent Prpnent Benefactr Hypertensin Bill f Rights Institute American Prtraits 1

2 Intrduce Text Have students read the backgrund and narrative, keeping the Walk-In-The-Shes questin in mind as they read. Then have them answer the remaining questins belw. Walk-In-The-Shes Questins As yu read, imagine yu are the prtagnist. What challenges are yu facing? What fears r cncerns might yu have? What may prevent yu frm acting in the way yu ught? Observatin Questins Sarah Breedlve started frm a psitin f extreme pverty and a target f abuse. Hw d yu think she fund the strength f character t change her life t ne f pwer and genersity? What cntributins did Madam C.J. Walker make t the advancement f freedm thrugh her apprach t understanding bth her wn identity and the American identity? In what ways did Walker s experiences as destitute sharecrpper cntribute t her ability t fight fr the freedm f thers? Discussin Questins Discuss the fllwing questins with yur students. What is the histrical cntext f the narrative? What histrical circumstances presented a challenge t the prtagnist? Hw and why did the individual exhibit a mral and/r civic virtue in facing and vercming the challenge? Hw did the exercise f the virtue benefit civil sciety? Hw might exercise f the virtue benefit the prtagnist? What might the exercise f the virtue cst the prtagnist? Wuld yu react the same under similar circumstances? Why r why nt? Hw can yu act similarly in yur wn life? What bstacles must yu vercme in rder t d s? Additinal Resurces Brwn, Mitchell C. The Faces f Science: African Americans in the Sciences; Madam C.J. Walker. University f Califrnia Irvine Accessed June 29, Bundles, A Lelia. Madam C.J. Walker: A Brief Bigraphical Essay Accessed June 29, Bundles, A Lelia Perry. On Her Own Grund; The Life and Times f Madam C.J. Walker. Washingtn Square Press, Bill f Rights Institute American Prtraits 2

3 Handut A: On My Own Grund: Madam C.J. Walker and Identity Backgrund Sarah Breedlve was brn in 1867 n the Delta, Luisiana plantatin where her parents had been enslaved prir t Sarah and her family, including five siblings, cntinued t wrk the same cttn fields as sharecrppers fllwing the Civil War. By the time she was seven, bth f Sarah s parents had died and she lived with her sister and brther-in-law, wrking in the fields and ding ther manual labr. At the age f furteen, in rder t escape the harsh treatment she received frm her brther-in-law, Sarah married Mses McWilliams. The cuple welcmed their daughter, A Lelia a cuple f years later, but when Sarah was nly twenty, her husband died. Sarah and her tddler mved t St. Luis where her brthers were successful barbers, and Sarah wrked alngside them, als taking in laundry t help make ends meet. A Lelia attended public schl in St. Luis, and Sarah jined the lcal African Methdist Episcpal Church, where she eagerly practiced her faith, made gd friends, and established her identity as a diligent wrker. These were the days f Jim Crw, when life fr black Americans invlved strict segregatin and limited ecnmic pprtunity. Hwever, fr black businesspeple wh develped prducts that met the needs f that segregated market, success was mre achievable. When she lived in St. Luis, Sarah began t suffer frm a scalp malady that caused her t lse her hair. She tried varius cmmercial preparatins, including thse made by Annie Malne, a black entrepreneur. Sarah even mved t Denver, where she became a sales agent fr Malne s prducts, prviding in-hme demnstratins and selling the shamps, ltins, and creams dr-t-dr. Narrative Meanwhile, Sarah cntinued t experiment with her wn hmemade hair cnditiners. Sarah later explained that in a dream ne night she saw a big black man wh shwed her a recipe including petrlatum, medicinal sulfur, and certain ingredients frm Africa a preparatin similar t Malne s. Sarah married Charles Jseph Walker, a newspaperman, and began t market her wn new hair and beauty prducts as Madam C.J. Walker s System. The flagship prduct was Madam C.J. Walker s Wnderful Hair Grwer, and Sarah used her wn befre-and-after pictures in advertising and n the decrative tins in which she packed her pmades and ther beauty supplies. The innvative marketing, cupled with Sarah s indefatigable wrk ethic, made her business very successful. Mst hmes at the time lacked indr plumbing and electricity, and mst saps and cleaning prducts were based n lye. Sarah advised her clients t aim fr cleanliness and lveliness, giving mre attentin t their grming, and as she visited with them in their hmes she gave tips fr ding s. She was careful t distinguish her prducts frm the hair straighteners advcated by white csmetic firms. She said, Right here let me crrect the errneus impressin held by sme that I claim t straighten the hair. I deplre such impressin because I have always held myself ut as a hair culturist. I grw hair I want the great masses f my peple t take a greater pride in their persnal appearance and t give their hair prper attentin. Madam Walker s clients became her salespeple because f a generus cmmissin system, and demand fr the prducts grew rapidly. She was part f a larger mvement in America as between ten thusand and frty thusand black-wned businesses were inaugurated between 1883 and She established her business headquarters in Denver, als perating a branch in Pittsburgh managed by her daughter, A Lelia. She prvided lectures and demnstratins in hmes, churches, and club meetings, traveling acrss the cuntry and winning thusands f custmers. In Pittsburgh and then in Indianaplis, Sarah maintained beauty schls alngside her factries, teaching her agents the Walker System. Encuraging self-respect and inspiring a strng sense f identity by persnal example, Walker cultivated black female business talent and trained African American wmen as hair culturists t sell and demnstrate her prducts in huse calls. Culturists were trained in strict rules f cleanliness, grming, and prfessinalism, wearing crisp white shirtwaists tucked int elegant lng black skirts, and carrying the black satchels that cntained all the equipment needed t help their clients achieve the smth and shiny hair that they desired. Her 1915 manual, Hints t Agents, exhrted, Open yur windws air it well Keep yur teeth clean in rder that [yur] breath might be sweet See that yur fingernails are kept clean, as that is a mark f refinement. Bill f Rights Institute American Prtraits 3

4 Walker s cmpany trained sme 40,000 Walker Agents in the expanding number f beauty clleges that she built r paired with already-established black institutins. I am nt merely satisfied in making mney fr myself. I am endeavring t prvide emplyment fr hundreds f wmen f my race, she explained. Nt everyne lved her; she received mre than her share f criticism and hstility frm men, bth black and white, as she sught t empwer black wmen thrughut the cuntry. Madam Walker was nt just an entrepreneur, thugh. As generus as she was diligent, she sught t advance the status f African-Americans. She established a netwrk f Walker clubs, ffering bnuses and prizes t the lcal rganizatins that cntributed the mst t their cmmunities thrugh charitable wrks. A fervent prpnent f black self-help, she funded schlarships fr wmen at Tuskegee Institute, dnated large sums f mney t rganizatins like the YMCA, NAACP, and black clleges and charities. A successful entrepreneur and generus benefactr, Walker turned the attentin f her vast netwrk t cunteract scial injustice and racial vilence. She built a lavish and elegant hme in New Yrk in 1916 and became invlved in Harlem s scial and plitical life, als becming a majr dnr t a Harlem anti-lynching fund. In July 1917, white mbs agitated due t labr-related tensins set fire t black neighbrhds and murdered dzens f blacks in East St. Luis, Illinis. As many as 6000 blacks were left hmeless. In Philadelphia that year, Walker hsted ne f the first natinal cnventins fr American businesswmen. She tld her netwrk gathered there, This is the greatest cuntry under the sun, but we must nt let ur lve f cuntry, ur patritic lyalty cause us t abate ne whit in ur prtest against wrng and injustice. We shuld prtest until the American sense f justice is s arused that such affairs as the East St. Luis rit be frever impssible. Walker s dctr warned her that she needed t slw dwn, but she was unable t d s; there was s much that she wanted t accmplish and her identity was wrapped up in cnstant effrts t make life better fr blacks especially black wmen in America. In 1919 at the age f 51, Sarah Breedlve Madam C.J. Walker died f hypertensin and kidney failure in her extravagant estate hme in New Yrk. She was the first black American wman t becme a self-made millinaire. At the time f her death, she was the sle wner f her business, which was valued at mre than $1 millin, and she had a persnal frtune estimated t be between $600,000 and $700,000. In 1912 Walker had described her life: I am a wman wh came frm the cttn fields f the Suth. Frm there I was prmted t the washtub. Frm there I was prmted t the ck kitchen. And frm there I prmted myself int the business f manufacturing hair gds and preparatins.i have built my wn factry n my wn grund. Bill f Rights Institute American Prtraits 4

5 Handut B: Jurnal Prmpts Answer the fllwing questins in yur jurnal, as yu prepare t vluntarily share sme f yur respnses in a class discussin. 1. T what extent did Walker s perfrmance align with her purpse? In what ways des yur perfrmance align with yur purpse? 2. T what extent and in what ways d yur unique characteristics enable yur pursuit f a life that is n track t achieve yur purpse? 3. T what extent and in what ways des yur perfrmance align with yur identity and purpse? What are yu ding nw t cultivate skills and interests that will cnnect tday s purpses with yur lng-term pprtunity t enhance and prtect the life and liberty f thers? Bill f Rights Institute American Prtraits 5