EQUITY AND

SOCIAL JUSTICE MADAME C.J.

WALKER
By AND
Darryl Lynn Jones, MAEd., M.S.
REGINALD
LEWIS
 This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

“Walker was the daughter of sharecroppers, yet still built a national brand, empowered hundreds
of women, and became a philanthropist and civil rights activist makes her story even more
inspiring. Madam C.J. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove on a Louisiana cotton plantation in
1867” (Hunt, Maria, C., 2020). “The fifth child of Owen and Minerva Breedlove, who had once
been enslaved, Sarah was the first of her siblings to be born free” (Hunt, Maria, C., 2020). Her
early years in Louisiana were full of struggle, and Sarah was an orphan by age 7, so she went to
live with her older sister Louvinia and her husband” (Hunt, Maria, C., 2020). In 1877, the family
moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where young Sarah picked cotton and did domestic work”
(Hunt, Maria, C., 2020).
 “WALKER WAS THE FIRST
BLACK WOMAN TO BUILD A
MILLION-DOLLAR FORTUNE.
[SIC] THE GUINNESS WORLD
RECORDS LISTS
Walker was the first Black woman toWALKER AS
build a million-dollar
fortune. But Guinness World Records lists Walker as the first
THE
self-made FIRST
female millionaire, SELF-MADE
period” (Hunt, Maria C., 2020).
FEMALE MILLIONAIRE,
PERIOD” (HUNT, MARIA C.,
2020).
introduce a select number of black students to legal studies. Reginald lobbied for his acceptance
and got in” (Reginald F. Lewis Foundation, 2018).

He made such an impression that Lewis was invited to attend Harvard Law School that fall—the
only person in the 148-year history of the school to be admitted before applying. His senior year
thesis on mergers and acquisitions received an honors grade (Reginald F. Lewis Foundation,
2018).
 “LEWIS PULLED OFF THE BIGGEST LEVERAGED
OFFSHORE BUYOUT IN HISTORY AND BECAME THE
RICHEST BLACK MAN IN AMERICA”
(Reginald F. Lewis Foundation, 2018).
 “[Sic]Reginald F. Lewis’s unknown two-man
team outbid huge firms like Citicorp to secure the
purchase of Beatrice Foods; i.e., 64 companies in
31 countries” (Reginald F. Lewis Foundation,
2018). “At $985 million, the deal was the largest
leveraged buyout of overseas assets by an
American company at that time” (Reginald F.
Lewis Foundation, 2018).
“As Chairman and CEO of the new TLC Beatrice
International, he moved quickly to reposition the
company, pay down the debt, and vastly increase
its worth” (Reginald F. Lewis Foundation, 2018).
“By 1992, the company had sales of over $1.8
billion annually, making it the first black-owned
business to generate a billion dollars in annual
sales” (Reginald F. Lewis Foundation, 2018).
Reginald F. Madame C. J.
Lewis Walker
1942-1993 1867-1919
References

Hunt, Maria C. (2020) Black hair made

Madame C.J. Walker America’s first self-
made female millionaire. retrieved from
https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical
-figures/madam-cj-walker.htm
Reginald F. Lewis Foundation (2018) The
making of a titan. retrieved from
https://reginaldflewis.com/bio/