| A'Lelia (McWilliams) Walker is a part of US Black history. Join: US Black Heritage Project Discuss: black_heritage |
Lelia Walker was born in 1885 to Sarah Breedlove aka. Madam C.J. Walker and Moses McWilliams. After the tragic death of her father, when she was only two years old, she and her mother moved to St. Louis, Missouri to escape the racial tensions of the south.
Lelia grew up in St. Louis and later attended Knoxville College in Tennessee. Her mother worked tirelessly as a washerwoman to earn the money to further her daughter's education. In 1905 her mother moved to Denver, Colorado where she was getting her hair products company started. This is where she met Lelia's step-father, Charles Joseph Walker whom Lelia adopted last name from.
The Lelia College for Beauty Culture was opened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where the family moved in order to sell their products to a larger market. Lelia was instrumental in getting her mother's company started.
After her mother's passing in 1919, she became president of the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Once coined as "The Joy Goddess of Harlem's 1920's" by poet, Langston Hughes, A'Lelia (her new name) threw lavish parties at her late mother's estate in Irvington, New York as well as at her New York City homes. Villa Lewaro was host to many great writers, artists, activists, and social thinkers such as, W.E.B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, James Weldon Johnson, and Hughes. These parties were also a safe haven for members of the gay community, who were among these influential party-goers.
A'Lelia had three marriages: John Robinson from 1909-1914, Wiley M. Wilson from 1919-1925, and Dr. James Arthur Kennedy 1926-1931. She adopted 13-year-old Fairy Mae Bryant (Mae Walker), who was an assistant and model for their company, in October 1912.
She died at the age of 46, at the home of a friend, in Long Branch, New Jersey. Thousands turned out to pay her tribute.
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This week's featured connections are American Founders: A'Lelia is 18 degrees from John Hancock, 18 degrees from Francis Dana, 26 degrees from Bernardo de Gálvez, 20 degrees from William Foushee, 20 degrees from Alexander Hamilton, 21 degrees from John Francis Hamtramck, 15 degrees from John Marshall, 18 degrees from George Mason, 24 degrees from Gershom Mendes Seixas, 16 degrees from Robert Morris, 18 degrees from Sybil Ogden and 18 degrees from George Washington on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
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Categories: Harlem Renaissance | Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, Indianapolis, Indiana | Philanthropists | US Black Heritage Project Managed Profiles | African-American Notables | Notables