On Her Own Ground

  home at 1351 Grant—Leonard and Neal, Denver, p. 43.

  “roomer” at 1201 Humboldt—Jacqueline Lawson to author, July 22, 1989.

  “the most comprehensive line”—Denver of To-day, circa 1905, LOC; Mabel K. Hamlin, “Meet Me at Scholtz’s,” Colorado Magazine, Vol. 36, No. 4 (Oct. 1959), p. 289.

  founders of the Colorado Pharmaceutical Society—“E. L. Scholtz, Retired Denver Drug Store Operator, Dies,” Rocky Mountain News, Jan. 21, 1941.

  “special attention to”—Historical and Descriptive Review of Denver (Denver: Jno. Lathem, circa 1902), p. 124 (CHS).

  “She was making extra money”—Fisher in “Two Dollars and a Dream.”

  “in her spare time”—“Millionaire Negress, Once of Denver, Dies,” Denver Times, May 26, 1919, p. 5.

  “for three nights”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mar. 4, 1918.

  resign her kitchen job—Denver Times, May 26, 1919.

  “I hired a little attic”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mar. 4, 1918.

  at 1923 Clarkson—Denver Statesman, Dec. 1, 1905.

  “two days a week”—DenverTimes, May 26, 1919.

  “I made house-to-house canvasses”—New York Times Magazine, Nov. 4, 1917.

  Five Points area—Leonard and Neal, Denver, p. 193; Lyle W. Dorsett, The Queen City:A History of Denver (Boulder: Pruett Publishing Company, 1977), p. 172.

  became a member of the missionary society—Justina Grizzard (Shorter Chapel AME, Denver) to Natasha Mitchell, Oct. 1999; Natasha Mitchell to author, Oct. 4, 1999.

  Colorado’s second black church—Harrison F. Smith, “History of Shorter A.M.E. Church,” in Souvenir and Official Program of the Annual Sessions of the Bishops’ Council, 1929, p. 26, DPLWHD.

  annual Sunday-school picnic—“Shorter A.M.E.” ad, Denver Statesman, July 21, 1905.

  “I sold her her first batch”—George Ross to R. L. Brokenburr, Dec. 17, 1919, MWC/IHS.

  “I spent 25 cents”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mar. 4, 1918.

  claimed readership in—Armistead S. Pride and Clint C. Wilson II, A History of the Black Press (Washington, DC: Howard University Press, 1997), p. 102.

  she placed a small announcement—Denver Statesman, Dec. 1, 1905.

  “Mrs. McWilliams, formerly”—Ibid.

  “As fast as she earned”—“Queen of Gotham’s Colored 400,” Literary Digest, Vol. 55 (Oct. 13, 1917), p. 76.

  “splendid personality”—Anderson, The Light and “Heebie Jeebies,” Feb. 19, 1927, p. 15.

  Along Arapahoe—“Our Showing Along Business Lines,” Denver Statesman, Jan. 13, 1905, and Feb. 2, 1906; “Pastime Club” ad, Denver Statesman, Feb. 16, 1906; “Fraternities,” Denver Statesman, July 21, 1905.

  Within walking distance—Leonard and Neal, Denver, 96.

  “newcomers to Denver”—“Denver Doings,” Denver Statesman, Dec. 8, 1905.

  J. C. Harris Orchestra—“Harris Orchestra,” “Moorish Drill” and “Masons” ads, Denver Statesman, Dec. 1, 1905, and Dec. 8, 1905.

  a quiet marriage ceremony—Affidavit verifying Jan. 4, 1906, marriage signed by Delilah Givens, July 6, 1918. According to The Walker Manufacturing Co., 1911, p. 12, the marriage took place on Jan. 3, 1906, but both of these references may be unreliable.

  Denver’s first near-in suburbs—Thomas J. Noel, Denver Landmarks & Historic Districts: A Pictorial Guide (Denver: University Press of Colorado, 1996), p. 83.

  Created in 1871—Ibid.

  detached brick homes—Ibid.

  “There is no divorce record”—Garner to FBR, Jan. 10, 1920.

  “positively unable to find”—Thomas Campbell to Robert Lee Brokenburr, Jan. 9, 1920, MWC/IHS.

  Washington had been invited—“Woman’s Week in Denver,” Denver Statesman, Jan. 19, 1906; “Mrs. Booker T. Washington,” Colorado Statesman, Jan. 20, 1906.

  “white and colored . . . filled”—Denver Statesman, Jan. 19, 1906; “Mrs. Booker T. Washington—Lectures to Large Audience at Shorter AME Church,” Colorado Statesman, Jan. 20, 1906; “Mrs. Booker T. Washington,” ibid.

  News of her teas—Denver Statesman, Jan. 19, 1906; Denver Statesman, Jan. 13, 1905.

  well-kept rooming house—“Our Showing Along Business Lines”; Denver Statesman, Feb. 16, 1906; “Denver Locals,” Denver Statesman, Apr. 27, 1906; The Walker Manufacturing Co., 1911, p. 13; “Madam C. J. Walker,” Indpls. Freeman, Nov. 11, 1911.

  “fifteen cents and up”—“Denver Locals,” Denver Statesman, Apr. 27, 1906, p. 7.

  “Mrs. C. J. Walker”—“Local Notes,” Denver Statesman, Apr. 6, 1906.

  Industrial Real Estate Loans—“The Fields Investment Co.,” Denver Statesman, Aug. 31, 1906; Jacqueline Lawson to author, July 22, 1989.

  “a number of houses to rent”—“Personal Briefs: B. W. Fields, C. J. Walker” ad, Denver Statesman, Apr. 27, 1906.

  Bert Williams and George Walker—“Personal Briefs,” Denver Statesman, Apr. 20, 1906.

  “Grand May Festival”—Denver Statesman, Apr. 27, 1906.

  “The lady receiving the largest”—Ibid.

  “high class trade”—Denver of To-day, p. 7.

  eye-catching photograph—Real Estate Want Ads, Denver Statesman, Feb. 16, 1906; “Mrs. Walker’s Offer,” Denver Statesman, May 11, 1906.

  “A grand old-fashioned time”—“Denver Doings,” Denver Statesman, May 4, 1906.

  “the only first-class hotel”—Nothing Is Long Ago: A Documentary History of Colorado 1776/1976 (Denver: Denver Public Library, 1976), p. 105.

  “WHERE ARE YOU GOING”—“Local Notes,” Denver Statesman, May 25, 1906.

  “Two years ago”—“Mrs. C. J. Walker” ad, Denver Statesman, May 18, 1906.

  “a pulpiteer”—“Career and Work of W. T. Vernon,” Indpls. Recorder, Feb. 19, 1910.

  recently been nominated—“William Tecumseh Vernon,” in Joseph J. Boris, ed., Who’s Who in Colored America, Vol. 1 (New York: Who’s Who in Colored America Corp., 1927), p. 208; “Reverend William T. Vernon,” Colorado Statesman, Jan. 1, 1906, p. 1. His term as “Register,” the title then used by the Department of the Treasury, was June 12, 1906, through Oct. 30, 1909. (Jim Marshall, Bureau of Engraving Department of Public Affairs, conversation with author, May 3, 2000.)

  occupant’s signature appeared—Boris, Who’s Who, p. 208; “Career and Work of W. T. Vernon,” Indpls. Recorder, Feb. 19, 1910, p. 1; “New Register of the Treasury,” Indpls. Recorder, Oct. 22, 1910; “Socrates a Negro, Vernon Declares,” St. Louis Republic, Jan. 12, 1912 (CTS/MHS)

  “the highest place held”—Indpls. Recorder, Feb. 19, 1910.

  Booker T. Washington disciple—Dorsett, The Queen City, p. 172.

  “Now as to the oil”—MW letter from Mrs. A. M. Pope, Colorado Statesman, May 12, 1906 (note from Willard Gatewood, Aug. 26, 1992).

  “Shops are failing every day”—Colorado Statesman, May 12, 1906.

  “I wish to say”—Ibid.

  “I represent the preparation”—“To the Ladies,” Denver Statesman, May 18, 1906.

  she had emerged as “Madam C. J. Walker”—Walker ad, Denver Statesman, July 27, 1906.

  “spent two successful weeks”—Denver Statesman, July 27, 1906.

  “an urgent appeal”—Ibid.; “Various Cities—Trinidad Items,” Franklin’s Paper The Statesman, Aug. 17, 1906.

  “was very successful”—Denver Statesman, July 27, 1906; Franklin’s Paper The Statesman, Friday, Aug. 17, 1906.

  classes “at a very reasonable price”—Mrs. C. J. Walker ad, Denver Statesman, May 5, 1906 (note from Willard Gatewood, Aug. 26, 1992).

  “one of the prettiest receptions”—Franklin’s Paper The Statesman, Aug. 17, 1906.

  brief stopover in Colorado Springs—Denver Statesman, July 27, 1906; “Mme. Walker, the hair grower,” Franklin’s Paper The Statesman, Aug. 17, 1906.

  Lelia had taken a hair-growing course—“Mme. C. J. Walker,” Denver Statesman, Aug. 24, 1906; Denver Statesman, Sept. 7, 1906.

  “After locati
ng in her new quarters”—“Mme. C. J. Walker,” Denver Statesman, Aug. 31, 1906.

  With Lelia now “in charge”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mar. 4, 1918.

  leaving on September 15, 1906—“Mr. and Mme. C. J. Walker,” Denver Statesman, Sept. 7, 1906, p. 8; “City News,” Colorado Statesman, Sept. 15, 1906.

  “The proof of the value”—“Poro” ad, Denver Statesman, May 3, 1907.

  “never claimed her preparation”—“No Misrepresentation,” Colorado Statesman, Sept. 28, 1906.

  “Mme. Walker’s Wonderful Hair Grower”—“Mme. Walker, the hair grower.”

  “It is somewhat trying to me”—CJW to FBR, Oct. 17, 1922.

  “could see nothing ahead”—Denver Statesman, Sept. 7, 1906.

  “She was discouraged”—The Walker Manufacturing Co., 1911, p. 13; The Walker Manufacturing Co., 1919, p. 4.

  packaged the “pressing oil”—“Retiring from Business,” Denver Statesman, May 17, 1907.

  “If you want long”—Denver Statesman, Sept. 28, 1906.

  “LADIES ATTENTION”—Denver Statesman, May 17, 1907.

  “Madam C. J. Walker and Miss McWilliams”—Ibid.

  CHAPTER 8 ON THE ROAD

  an income greater than—Report of the 13th Annual Convention of the NNBL held at Chicago, Illinois, Aug. 21–23, 1912, p. 54; Scott Derks, ed., The Value of a Dollar: Prices and Incomes in the United States (Detroit: Gale Research, 1994), pp. 91–92.

  took in $3,652—NNBL Annual Report, 1912, p. 154.

  “for sores of any description”—The Walker Manufacturing Co., 1911, p. 6.

  Throughout Oklahoma, Texas—“America’s Foremost Colored Woman,” Indpls Freeman, Dec. 28, 1912, p. 16; 1919 Walker Company Booklet, p. 4.

  “My hair was the talk”—The Walker Manufacturing Co., 1911, p. 10.

  “old bald-headed lady”—Ibid., pp. 8–9.

  After visits to New York—“America’s Foremost Colored Woman”; 1919 Walker Company Booklet, p. 4.

  sixteen rail lines—John Bodnar, Roger Simon and Michael P. Weber, Lives of Their Own: Blacks, Italians and Poles of Pittsburgh 1900–1960 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1982), p. 21.

  temporary headquarters—The Walker Manufacturing Co., 1911, p. 13.

  August 1907—The Walker Manufacturing Co. (Indianapolis: Walker Manfacturing Co., undated). She “remained in Pittsburgh for two years and six months.”

  March 1908—The Walker Manufacturing Co., 1919, p. 15. She “traveled for about a year and a half.”

  “Hell with the lid off”—Liz Seymour, “Non-stop Pittsburgh,” U.S. Airways Magazine, May 1997, p. 52.

  unquestionable leader—Bodnar et al., Lives of Their Own, p. 15.

  11 million tons—Ibid., p. 21.

  In the triangular wedge—Ibid., p. 22

  “the congestion”—Arthur Shadewell, Industrial Efficiency: A Comparative Study of Industrial Life in England, Germany and America, Vol. I (London, 1906), p. 325, cited in Bodnar et al., Lives of Their Own, p. 22.

  Underground Railroad—Abraham Epstein, The Negro Migrant in Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh School of Economics, 1918), p. 19.

  grew from 20,355 to 25,623—Negroes in the United States 1920–1932 (Washington, DC: GPO, U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1935), p. 55; Bodnar et al., Lives of Their Own, p. 20.

  ranked fifth—Negroes in the U.S., p. 55; Bodnar et al., Lives of Their Own, p. 20.

  New York was first—Negroes in the U.S., p. 55.

  During the autumn of 1907—John R. Commons and William M. Leiserson, “Wage Earners of Pittsburgh,” in Paul Underwood Kellogg, Wage-Earning Pittsburgh: The Pittsburgh Survey (6 vols.; New York: Russell Sage Foundation/Survey Associates, Inc., 1914), p. 118.

  Knickerbocker Bank—Lorraine Glennon, ed., Our Times: The Illustrated History of the 20th Century (Atlanta: Turner Publishing, 1995), p. 57.

  “Hardly another city”—Commons and Leiserson, “Wage-Earners of Pittsburgh,” p. 118.

  By April 1908—Ibid.

  “well-equipped” hair parlor—Pennsylvania Negro Business Directory: Industrial and Material Growth of the Negroes of Pennsylvania, 1910 (Harrisburg: Jas. H. W. Howard & Son, 1910), p. 31.

  Once a favored residential area—Bodnar et al., Lives of Their Own, p. 70.

  Between 1890 and 1900—Jacqueline Wolfe, “The Changing Pattern of Residence of the Negro in Pittsburgh,” unpublished MS thesis, University of Pittsburgh, 1964 (University of Pittsburgh, Hillman Library), p. 21.

  Blacks, who would come—Alonzo Moron, “Distribution of the Negro Population in Pittsburgh, 1910–1930,” unpublished MA thesis, University of Pittsburgh, 1933 (University of Pittsburgh, Hillman Library), p. 29; Helen A. Tucker, “The Negroes of Pittsburgh (1907–08)” in Kellogg, Wage-Earning Pittsburgh, p. 426 (originally published in Charities and The Commons, Jan. 3, 1909); Bodnar et al., Lives of Their Own, p. 71.

  their enterprises were sprinkled—Bodnar et al., Lives of Their Own, p. 79.

  five lawyers—Pennsylvania Negro Business Directory, p. 31.

  “manufactory of hair-growing preparations”—Tucker, “The Negroes of Pittsburgh,” p. 429; Bodnar et al., Lives of Their Own, pp. 79–80.

  no weekly black newspaper—Pride and Wilson, A History of the Black Press, p. 138.

  prominent blacks—Richard R. Wright, The Negro in Pennsylvania: A Study in Economic History (Philadelphia: AME Book Concern Printers, 1909), p. 66, quoted in Wolfe, “The Changing Pattern,” p. 22.

  Pittsburgh’s East End—Pennsylvania Negro Business Directory, p. 36.

  “speak easies, cocaine joints”—Tucker, “The Negroes of Pittsburgh,” p. 426.

  twenty-five chapters—Ibid., p. 433.

  “We, the undersigned”—The Walker Manufacturing Co., 1911, p. 5.

  earned $6,672—1912 NNBL Annual Convention, p. 154.

  earned $8,782—Ibid.

  just over $150,000—Estimate based on Bureau of Labor statistics using 1913 and 2000 CPI indexes.

  “one of the most successful”—Pennsylvania Negro Business Directory, p. 36. (The directory was published in 1910, but was compiled in 1909.)

  about a hundred dressmakers—Tucker, “The Negroes of Pittsburgh,” p. 431.

  more than 90 percent—Ibid.

  men’s wages—Ibid.

  half of the city’s teamsters—Bodnar et al., Lives of Their Own, p. 19.

  municipal jobs—Tucker, “The Negroes of Pittsburgh,” p. 429; Pennsylvania Negro Business Directory, p. 30.

  assets of $1,804,000,000—This Fabulous Century, Vol. 1: 1900–1910 (New York: Time-Life Books, 1985), p. 9.

  $1.20-a-week—“Mr. Carnegie’s Address at the Dedication of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Nov 5, 1895,” www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/oakland/oak_n77, downloaded Aug. 8, 1998; “Andrew Carnegie and His Philanthropies,” www.carnegie.org/philanth, downloaded Aug. 10, 1998; Michael Klepper and Robert Gunther, The Wealthy 100: From Benjamin Franklin to Bill Gates (Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996), pp. 31–32 and 102.

  established a bridge-building business—“Andrew Carnegie,” www.carnegie.org.

  An antebellum-era abolitionist—Joseph Frazier Wall, Andrew Carnegie (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1989), pp. 147 and 972.

  hired blacks as early as the 1880s—R. R. Wright, Jr., “One Hundred Steel Workers,” in Kellogg, Wage-Earning Pittsburgh, p. 97.

  Homestead Strike—Tucker, “The Negroes of Pittsburgh,” p. 429.

  nearly 350—Ibid.

  least-skilled—Pennsylvania Negro Business Directory, p. 30.

  $400 million—Klepper and Gunther, The Wealthy 100, pp. 31–32 and 102; Wall, Andrew Carnegie, p. 1042, cited at Carnegie Library Web site at www.clpgh.org/exhibit/carnegie (downloaded Aug. 5, 1998); the exact figure Carnegie had contributed at the time of his death in 1919 is said to be $350,695,653.

  $600,000 to Booker T. Washington’s—Wall, Andrew Carnegie, pp. 972–73.

 
“The man who dies”—“Andrew Carnegie, City of Edinburgh, July 8, 1887,” www.ebs.hw.ac.uk/hisc/digest/carnl.

  “Do you realize”—The Walker Manufacturing Co., 1911, p. 6.

  “Soil that will grow”—Ibid.

  “years of experience”—Ibid.

  Having trained dozens—Ibid., p. 13.

  treated fifty-one—Ibid., pp. 5–6.

  Another Ohio woman—Mrs. W. A. Snead to MW, Mar. 1, 1910.

  “I have not the knowledge”—The Walker Manufacturing Co., 1911, p. 6; “Mrs. W. A. Snead Pays a High Tribute to Madam Walker,” Indpls. Recorder, Mar. 19, 1910, p. 2; Mrs. W. A. Snead to MW, Mar. 1, 1910.

  At the end of October—Lelia to Mme. C. J. Walker, photo postcard, Oct. 31, 1908.

  blacks had had a strong presence—Stuart McGehee, Craft Memorial Library, Bluefield, WV, phone conversation with author, Aug. 11, 1998.

  As Bluefield grew—Stuart McGehee, “The History of Bluefield, West Virginia,” http://ci.bluefield.wv.us/history/stewart, downloaded Aug. 11, 1998; Michael A. Fletcher, “A College Fades to White,” Washington Post, Dec. 8, 1997; Bluefield Colored Institute is now Bluefield State College.

  married John Robinson—John B. Robison [sic] and Lelia McWilliams, Washington County, PA, Marriage License Application #18667, Oct. 18, 1909; Washington County, PA, Marriage Certificate #18667, Clerk of Courts. On this marriage license application Lelia McWilliams claims that a previous marriage was “dissolved by death.” If this previous marriage occurred, there is currently no record available and she never mentioned it in any other documents or in public interviews. Shortly before her death she said she had been married three times.

  “hotel telephone operator”—Edgar Rouzeau, Interstate Tattler, Sept. 3, 1931. (There is no Fort Smith Hotel in Pittsburgh city directories during the years Lelia McWilliams lived in Pittsburgh.)