Madame C. J. Walker #1033

Caption from poster__      " I had to make my own living and my    own opportunity. But I made it! Don’t    sit down and wait for the opportunities   to come. Get up and make them."        Madam C.J. Walker (December 23, 1867–May 25, 1919), was an African American philanthropist and tycoon. Born Sarah Breedlove in Delta, Louisiana, the first member of her family born free, she was raised on farms there and in Mississippi and started out by picking cotton on a plantation. She was orphaned at age seven, married at age fourteen (to a man named Moses McWilliams) and widowed at twenty, at which point she moved to St. Louis, joining her brothers. Sarah worked as a laundress for as little as a dollar and a half a day, but she was able to save enough to educate her daughter. While living in St. Louis, Walker joined the St. Paul's African Methodist Episcopal Church. This association had a positive impact on Walker, helping her develop her oration, interpersonal, and organization skills.