Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company

The Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company was an Indianapolis-based African American-owned cosmetics and hair-care business founded in 1910 by Madam C. J. Walker, the business name adopted by Sarah Breedlove after her marriage to Charles Joseph Walker. The company became one of the most prominent and financially successful Black-owned enterprises in the United States during the early twentieth century. Its products were marketed primarily to African American women and included preparations intended to cleanse the scalp, address hair and scalp problems, promote hair growth, and improve personal appearance. Walker developed her business after experiencing hair and scalp problems herself and learning about hair care through family, commercial contacts, and her work as a sales agent for Annie Turnbo Malone. With assistance from the Denver druggist Edmund L. Scholtz, she developed an ointment and began selling hair-care products under names including Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower. Early advertising appeared in the Black press, and Walker and her husband initially sold products in Denver and across parts of the South and West through personal demonstrations and direct sales. The company’s growth depended heavily on a trained network of sales agents, beauty schools, salons, mail-order activity, and door-to-door service. In 1910 Walker moved her business to Indianapolis, a major center of African American commercial and civic life. She opened a salon, organized agents, and worked with attorneys Freeman Ransom and Robert Brokenburr to incorporate the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company of Indiana. The enterprise combined manufacturing with education and distribution: agents sold products, stylists provided treatments in customers' homes, and beauty schools trained practitioners who could expand the Walker system into additional communities. Walker’s business was notable not only for its scale but also for the opportunities it created for Black women. The company’s sales and training structure enabled thousands of women to earn income as agents, beauticians, and instructors at a time when employment choices were sharply restricted by race and gender. Marjorie Joyner became one of its most important educators and organizers, eventually supervising approximately 200 beauty schools and training many thousands of stylists over her career. After Walker died in 1919, her daughter A'Lelia Walker became president. Under her leadership, the company constructed a new headquarters and manufacturing facility in Indianapolis in 1927. The business survived the Great Depression, although declining sales required A'Lelia to sell personal art and antiques to help sustain operations. Following her death in 1931, leadership passed to her adopted daughter Mae Walker, and subsequently to Mae’s daughter A'Lelia Mae Perry Bundles in 1945. The original company ceased operations in July 1981. The 1927 Indianapolis building later became the Madam Walker Legacy Center. The historical brand name was revived in a new form in the twenty-first century. Sundial Brands introduced Madam C. J. Walker Beauty Culture through Sephora in 2020, and later announced that its MADAM brand would be carried in Walmart stores. These later businesses reused Walker’s name and legacy but are not the same operating company as the manufacturing company incorporated in 1910.

Sarah Breedlove was born in 1867 in Delta, Louisiana, to formerly enslaved parents and was orphaned during childhood. After the death of her first husband, Moses McWilliams, she moved to St. Louis, where she worked as a laundress and developed an interest in hair and scalp care. Her brothers operated a barber shop, and their experience helped shape her knowledge of hair treatment. Around 1904 she worked as a sales agent for Annie Turnbo Malone, another prominent African American hair-care entrepreneur. Breedlove later moved to Denver and worked with the druggist Edmund L. Scholtz on an ointment for scalp conditions. After marrying Charles Joseph Walker in January 1906, she adopted the name Madam C. J. Walker. The couple marketed Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower in Denver and surrounding communities. Advertisements in The Statesman presented Walker as both a product demonstrator and a successful user of the treatment. In July 1906, Walker and her husband began traveling through Texas, Oklahoma, and other states to expand sales. Her daughter Lelia managed the Denver operation while Walker traveled. Walker selected Pittsburgh as a temporary business base in 1908 because of its transportation connections. There she opened a salon on Wylie Avenue, recruited sales agents, and established Lelia College to train hair-care professionals. Her distribution model combined product sales with personal instruction and in-home service. Agents, frequently Black women, could sell preparations directly to customers and perform treatments using products carried in branded cases. In early 1910 Walker sought to organize a stock company. Although Booker T. Washington did not provide the investment she requested, Walker continued to build the business with proceeds from mail orders and salon activity. She arrived in Indianapolis on February 10, 1910, opened a salon in a residence on Indiana Avenue, and rapidly expanded her customer and agent network. By August she reportedly had hundreds of sales agents and thousands of clients. Attorneys Freeman Ransom and Robert Brokenburr prepared incorporation documents in 1910. The stated business purpose covered hair-growing and beautifying preparations, scalp treatment, and scalp cleaning. Walker, Charles Walker, and Lelia were named as the initial directors, while Walker was identified as the company’s sole stakeholder in 1911. The company purchased a building on North West Street and developed plans for a factory, laboratory, and salon. Indianapolis subsequently became the central institutional base of the Walker enterprise. The company expanded through beauty schools, salons, mail order, and a national sales organization. Marjorie Joyner became an agent and by 1919 was national supervisor of roughly 200 beauty schools. She helped train about 15,000 stylists over a career spanning five decades and contributed to product development, including work associated with a permanent-wave machine. The Walker system created commercial and professional opportunities for Black women while extending the company’s reach into communities underserved by mainstream cosmetics businesses. Walker died in 1919 and was succeeded as president by her daughter A'Lelia Walker. In 1927 the company opened a new Indianapolis headquarters and manufacturing plant. The Great Depression reduced sales and placed pressure on the business; A'Lelia sold personal art and antiques to help keep it operating. After A'Lelia’s death in 1931, Mae Walker became president, followed by A'Lelia Mae Perry Bundles after Mae’s death in 1945. The original manufacturing company ultimately ceased operations in July 1981. Its Indianapolis headquarters building survived as the Madam Walker Legacy Center, preserving an important site in African American business and cultural history. The name was later reused by Sundial Brands for Madam C. J. Walker Beauty Culture, introduced through Sephora in 2020, and for the MADAM brand announced for Walmart distribution in 2022. Those initiatives represent later commercial revivals of the Walker legacy rather than continuity of the original company’s operations.

1. 2022MADAM distribution expands to Walmart

   Sundial announced placement of its MADAM brand in approximately 3,000 Walmart stores.

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2. 2020Walker name revived through Sephora

   Sundial Brands launched Madam C. J. Walker Beauty Culture through Sephora.

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3. 1981Original company closes

   The Walker Company ceased operations in July.

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4. 1945A'Lelia Mae Perry Bundles becomes president

   Leadership passed to the next generation of the Walker family.

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5. 1931Mae Walker becomes president

   Mae Walker succeeded A'Lelia Walker after her death.

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6. 1927New Indianapolis headquarters and factory open

   The company built a larger headquarters and manufacturing plant in Indianapolis.

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7. 1919A'Lelia Walker succeeds her mother

   After Madam C. J. Walker’s death, her daughter became company president.

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8. 1911Walker is recorded as sole stakeholder

   Corporate records identified Madam C. J. Walker as the company’s sole stakeholder.

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9. 1910Company incorporated in Indiana

   Walker organized the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company of Indiana in Indianapolis and established a permanent commercial base.

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10. 1908Pittsburgh becomes a temporary business base

    Walker opened a salon, recruited agents, and created Lelia College to train beauty professionals.

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11. 1906Walker begins marketing her own hair-care products

    After marrying Charles Joseph Walker, she marketed Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower in Denver and nearby communities.

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12. 1904Breedlove works as a sales agent for Annie Turnbo Malone

    This experience exposed Breedlove to organized African American hair-care product sales and helped inform her later business model.

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An African American-focused hair-care and beauty company combining proprietary products, direct sales, salons, beauty education, and a large network of women sales agents and stylists.

• Walker's Wonderful Hair GrowerHair-growth treatment1906

  The company’s best-known early preparation was marketed as a treatment for hair growth and scalp problems. It was sold through agents, salons, mail order, and personal demonstrations, forming the commercial foundation of Walker’s product system.

• Walker hair and scalp preparationsHair care1910

  The broader Walker line included preparations intended to cleanse the scalp, address scalp disease, improve hair condition, and support grooming routines for African American women. Products were commonly demonstrated and applied by trained agents and beauticians.

• Walker beauty services and professional suppliesProfessional beauty1910

  The company’s offering extended beyond packaged cosmetics to salon treatments, home visits, stylist instruction, and supplies used by its network of trained beauticians. This service-and-education model was central to its distribution strategy.

• 1910Establish an incorporated Indianapolis companyStrategy

  Walker’s expanding mail-order, salon, and agent activities required a more permanent corporate and manufacturing structure.

  What changed. She incorporated the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company of Indiana and developed an Indianapolis headquarters with plans for manufacturing, laboratory, and salon facilities.

  Aftermath. Indianapolis became the company’s principal base and supported its later national sales and beauty-school network.

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• 1910Build a women-led direct-sales and education networkStrategy

  Walker needed a distribution system capable of reaching African American customers across geographically dispersed markets.

  What changed. The company recruited sales agents, operated salons and beauty schools, and trained stylists to sell and apply products in customers’ homes.

  Aftermath. The model expanded the company’s geographic reach and created income-generating roles for thousands of Black women.

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• 2022MADAM brand announced for Walmart distribution

  Sundial announced that its MADAM brand would be stocked in approximately 3,000 Walmart stores.

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• 2020Madam C. J. Walker Beauty Culture brand is revived

  Sundial Brands revived the Walker name through Madam C. J. Walker Beauty Culture, a new brand sold through Sephora.

  M&AProduct launch
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• 1981Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company ceases operations

  The original Walker Company ended its operations in July 1981 after more than seven decades in the hair-care and beauty business.

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1. Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company