Madam C.J. Walker has been credited for becoming the first self-made female millionaire who traveled across the country selling Black hair products, according to Biography.
Now, her great-great-granddaughter A'Lelia Bundles is continuing to enhance her ancestor's estate by releasing Madam by Madam C.J. Walker, a new Sundial Brands beauty and hair care line in partnership with Walmart. The big-box retailer will distribute the beauty product line throughout its 3,000 stores nationwide and on Walmart.com, according to the retailer's site.
Madam boasts eleven new products that include hair balms, serums, conditioners, curling cream, gels, braid spray and a heat protectant when ladies use a flatiron to achieve a sleek look.
"We worked together to merge 100 years of research, development, science, and technology to ensure that the products are as innovative and effective as the original Walker line," Bundles said in the company's press release about the new brand's creation. "This collection embodies Madam Walker's spirit of empowerment and pays homage to modern women of color."
Walker was born on Dec. 23, 1867, to sharecroppers Owen and Minerva Breedlove in Delta, Louisiana. However, at the age of 7, she became an orphan and later worked as a farm laborer in the cotton fields and as a laundress.
During the 1890s, she started losing her hair due to a scalp disorder, so she created at-home remedies to help with her ailment. At 14, she married Moses McWilliams and had a daughter, A'Lelia. After the death of her husband, she moved to St. Louis and met Charles J. Walker, who she later married.
Charles, who worked in advertising, helped his wife create an ad for her hair care treatment and inspired her to use the name "Madam C.J. Walker." Together, the couple gave live demonstrations throughout the South and Southeast using her pomade, as depicted in Netflix's series Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker.
As the business grew in 1908, Walker established a factory and a beauty school in Pittsburgh and opened the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company in Indianapolis. Walker enlisted Black, working-class women to serve as sales agents, also known as "Walker Agents," who became financially independent and could purchase homes, support their children's education and pass down generational wealth.
"I am endeavoring to provide employment for hundreds of women of my race," she said, according to Harvard Business Review.
Walker's legacy of resilience and ingenuity, as well as her dedication to providing for her community, will continue through the launch of the new brand.
"We are thrilled to continue Walmart's commitment to expanding our beauty and hair care offering for women of color with a brand that has a storied legacy and exciting future," Angel Beasley, Walmart's merchandising director of specialty hair, said in a release.
For more information regarding Madam by Madam C.J. Walker and the full line of products, visit MadambyMCJW.com.
