Celebrating Black women in American history

Marva Nettles Collins born in Monroerville, Alabama she founded the Westside Preparatory School in Chicago in 1975 to educate the young children of Chicago's mean streets.  Using her own pension funds from sixteen years teaching in public schools , she built a schoolroom in her home. Her motto is "Entrance to lean, exit to serve"  Knowledge is power.  Her motivation is educating the next generation for success and giving every child the education and equal opportunity to learn which came out of her disillusioned after teaching in the public school system for sixteen years, Collins decided to open a school that would welcome students who had been rejected by other schools and labeled disruptive and "unteachable." She had seen too many children pass through an ineffective school system in which they were given impersonal teachers who did not challenge their students to excel.

Let's celebrate Black women in American history who have done great and extrordinary things and be inspired and encouraged to do the same!

Peace, Love and Strength

T. Davis

 

Celebrating Black women in American history

Madam C. J. Walker (December 23, 1867 - May 25, 1919) was an inventor, businesswoman and self-made millionaire. Walker was an African-American who developed many beauty and hair care products that were extremely popular.
Madam Walker was born in Delta, Louisiana, on the Burney family plantation; her name was originally Sarah Breedlove. Walker's parents were ex-slaves who had both died by the time Sarah was seven. Sarah was married at age fourteen to Moses McWilliams. Widowed at age 20, she moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and supported her daughter, Lelia, by washing laundry.
In 1905, she moved to Denver, Colorado, and married Charles Joseph (C.J.) Walker, a newspaper sales agent; they were divorced in 1912, but she kept his name. Madam Walker started her cosmetics business in 1906. Her first product was a scalp treatment that used petrolatum and sulfur to heal scalp disease and to grow hair. She also softened the hair with an ointment she called Glossine,and straightened the hair with a metal comb. She did not, however, invent the hair comb.
She added Madam to her name and began selling her new "Walker System" door-to-door. Walker soon added other cosmetic products to her line. The products were very successful and she soon had many saleswomen, called "Walker Agents," who sold her products door to door and through beauty salon. In 1917, her agents came together in one of the nation's first convention of businesswomen. She settled briefly in Pittsburgh in 1908, then established her permanent headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1910.
Madam Walker eventually became a millionaire from her business, which was at its peak from 1911 through 1922; she employed thousands of people. Walker moved to New York in 1916 and became active in influencing the arts and philanthropy. She contributed to many organizations ad educational institutions, including the NAACP, the Tuskegee Institute, Bethune-Cookman College, the YMCA and the YMCA. She also helped spur the Harlem Renaissance through her support of black artists and musicians. The Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company is no longer in business.

Note: For more information on Madam Walker, please read, On Her Own Ground: the Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker by A'Lelia Bundles (Madam Walker's great-great-granddaughter).

Celebrating Black Women in American History

Dr. Alexa Canady at age 30 became the fist black women neurosurgeon in the U.S., and only one in her home town city of Detroit.   She completed her medical degree in pediatric neurosurgery at the Unv. of Michigan.   She said "her mother is her role model, because she's bright, energetic, and committed, and has a sense that getting up each day is an adventure.  My grandmother is also a role model because always treated me like I was a person who was worth listening to even when I was a little person not worth listening too." 

Dr. Canady believed in hard work, education and ambition.  She is not only inspiring to other Black women but men and women as a whole. Let's celebrate her place as a Black women in American history!! 

Peace, Love, Strength and Happiness

T. Davis

Celebrating Black Women In American History

 

Maxine Waters(D) Los Angeles~  was born in St. Louis with twelve brothers and sisters.  She loved the Bill of Rights and U.S. Constitution which led her to explore a career in politics.  Her role in politics have changed the lives not only of her constituents but Black (Americans) as a whole, she challenged the crack epidemic in sentencing and most famously the Iran Contra funding through the American drug trade.  

"Poor people have not ever really organized to use their numbers and power to force the government to do very much for them.  People who don't make alot of noise don't get very much.  All of us deserve a system that works for us not against us, this syemt does not simply belong to the wealthy."

Let's celebrate Black Women in U.S. history and the contributions they have and continue to make for this country.

Peace, Love and Strength.

T. Davis