continued from yesterday's postBorn 150 years ago, Madam C J Walker was many things, first black millionaire, first female millionaire, philanthropist, employer of black women, anti-racism activist, and proto-feminist. But one thing she was not was the inventor of the hair relaxer.
G.A. Morgan
Morgan, famous on black websites everywhere for inventing the gas mask and the traffic light, is one of the people who deserves some or most of the credit for inventing creamy crack, otherwise known as hair relaxer
In 1909, Morgan was working with sewing machines in his newly opened tailoring shop—a business he had opened with wife Mary, who had experience as a seamstress—when he encountered woolen fabric that had been scorched by a sewing-machine needle. It was a common problem at the time, since sewing-machine needles ran at such high speeds. In hopes of alleviating the problem, Morgan experimented with a chemical solution in an effort to reduce friction created by the needle, and subsequently noticed that the hairs of the cloth were straighter. After trying his solution to good effect on a neighboring dog's fur, Morgan finally tested the concoction on himself. When that worked, he quickly established the G.A. Morgan Hair Refining Company and sold the cream to African Americans. The company was incredibly successful, bringing Morgan financial security and allowing him to pursue other interests. Good Thing Mr. Morgan doesn't need the money from hair straightening how. Relaxer sales reportedly dropped 26% in 2014. Black women are still moving toward healthier, more natural hair styles. http://blackamericaweb.com/2014/09/11/creamy-crack-withdrawal-hair-relaxer-sales-drop-26/ |
ANNIE TURNBO MALONE
MALONE STARTED BY FOCUSING ON HEALTHY HAIR
BUT WITH THE HELP OF AN AUNT SHE WOULD CREATE CHEMICAL STRAIGHTENERS FOR BLACK HAIR
BUT WITH THE HELP OF AN AUNT SHE WOULD CREATE CHEMICAL STRAIGHTENERS FOR BLACK HAIR
While experimenting with hair and different hair care products, she developed and manufactured her own line of non-damaging hair straighteners, special oils, and hair-stimulant products for African-American women. She named her new product “Wonderful Hair Grower” To promote her new product, Turnbo sold the Wonderful Hair Grower in bottles from door-to-door. She began to revolutionize hair care methods for all African Americans....
One of her selling agents, Sarah Breedlove (who became known as Madam C. J. Walker when she set up her own business), encouraged Turnbo to copyright her products under the name "Poro" because of what she called fraudulent imitations and to discourage counterfeit versions.
Malone's business thrived until she wound up in a battle for control of her business with her second husband, Aaron Eugene Malone. She'd left some of the day to day affairs in his hands as manager. And he eventually claimed he was responsible for 1/2 of the success of the business.
She suffered another blow when a former employee also sued her, claiming credit for Annie Malone's success. This lawsuit forced her to sell property in order to pay the settlement. Eventually, the government would come after her for back taxes.
Walker would remain a rich and powerful woman for most of her life. And there would be some debate as to how much credit was owed to Turnbo. But there's no doubt as to who had more sense when it came to men and to money. Walker made a decision to grow her business when her husband, Mr. Walker, wanted to go in a direction that would limit her.
Turnbo turned over the reigns of a business she created and wound up without enough money and power to fight off another challenge to her business.
Turnbo's story makes me wonder if Oprah Winfrey didn't read both these stories, and thousands of other stories, regarding black, white, men and women who didn't remain in charge of their own businesses and their own money. Unlike the members of the now broke singing group TLC and M.C. Hammer, Oprah has always known everything about her own money signs (or used to sign) all of her own checks.
Strong minded as well as hard working, Madam C J Walker was able to sustain herself in the manner to which she had become accustomed and she was able to connect with and help others too.
I was surprised and pleased to find out that Walker knew Ida B Wells.
Walker told her friend Ida B. Wells, the journalist and anti-lynching activist, that after working so hard all her life  / She directed....the architect— to position the 34-room mansion close to the village’s main thoroughfareso it was easily visible by travelers en route from Manhattan to Albany... [H]er new [white] neighbors were “puzzled” and “gasped in astonishment” when they learned that a black woman was the owner. “Impossible!” they exclaimed. “No woman of her race could afford such a place.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/national-trust-for-historic-preservation/do-big-things-madam-cj-wa_b_6029236.htm
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Like the light bulb and the elevator, the relaxer probably had multiple simultaneous inventors in multiple places around the world where one didn't know about the other. So I'm not sure who invented it first.
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