On Her Own Ground

  “We’re going to build”—“Many Small Pledges.”

  “it is the greatest thing”—“Urge YMCA Teams to Redouble Efforts,” undated clipping (MSRC/YMCA).

  canvassers hit a snag—“Many Small Pledges.”

  “A chain is no stronger”—“$15,000 Mark Passed by Colored Workers,” Indpls. Star, Oct. 31, 1911 (MSRC/YMCA).

  exceeded their $15,000 goal—“Colored YMCA Is Now Nearly Assured,” Nov. 1, 1911, clipping (MSRC/YMCA); “$15,000 Mark Passed by Colored Workers.”

  “Here’s our opportunity”—“$15,000 Mark Passed by Colored Workers.”

  total topped $93,000—“Ask Voluntary Gifts for Colored YMCA” and “General Call Issued for Aid to YMCA,” undated clippings (MSRC/YMCA).

  “gave three cheers”—“Ask Voluntary Gifts.”

  “Effort Ends Today”—Indpls. Freeman, Nov. 4, 1911 (MSRC/YMCA).

  mount a “supreme effort”—“4,458.66 Is Needed, Progress of Campaign,” Indpls. Freeman, Nov. 4, 1911.

  Electric railway entrepreneur—“$104,226.18 Is Raised for Colored YMCA,” undated clipping (MSRC/YMCA).

  “This movement”—Ibid.

  “the biggest and most enthusiastic”—“4,458.66 Is Needed.” The articles describing the 6:15 P.M. Central YMCA rally mentions the men not mention Madam Walker. But throughout the campaign, women who were involved were largely ignored in the newspaper coverage. In view of her financial commitment, it is hard to imagine that she did not participate in all of the final day’s festivities.

  an unexpe cted $104,000—“104,226.18 Is Raised.” There is a discrepancy of $510.70 from different sources. On the basis of Jesse Moorland’s final tally of $20,610.73 and “Work to Be Rushed on New YMCA Home” (undated clipping in MSRC/YMCA), which gives the Central Y total of $59,126.15, the final total would be $104,736.88 ($20,610.73+$59,126.15+$25,000=$104,736.88).

  more than 1,500 African American—“Subscriptions to Building Fund, Indianapolis” (MSRC/YMCA). Other sources show the final tally as $20,556.35. See “YMCA Notes,” Indpls. Freeman, Nov. 11, 1911; “The Great YMCA Campaign Closed,” ibid. “Work to Be Rushed” gave the figure as $20,100.03 (MSRC/YMCA).

  The Central YMCA—“Work to Be Rushed.”

  “The colored people”—“The Colored YMCA Movement,” Indpls. Freeman, Nov. 18, 1911.

  “a sign of the best possible condition”—Untitled column, Indpls. Freeman, Nov. 4, 1911.

  A “skilled debater”—Gatewood, Slave and Freeman, p. 11.

  “Best Known Hair Culturist”—“Madam C. J. Walker,” Indpls. Freeman, Nov. 11, 1911.

  “Hurrah for the $100,000 YMCA”—Untitled column, Indpls. Freeman, Nov. 4, 1911.

  “Mr. Rosenwald’s gift”—Winston, “Jesse Edward Moorland,” in Logan and Winston, DANB, p. 450.

  CHAPTER 11 “I PROMOTED MYSELF . . .”

  “to ask if you”—MW to BTW, Dec. 2, 1911 (BTW/LOC); Louis Harlan and Raymond W. Smock, ed., The Booker T. Washington Papers, Vol. 11: 1911–1912 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972), p. 384.

  sixteen-page booklet “which will”—MW to BTW, Dec. 2, 1911; Harlan and Smock, The BTW Papers, p. 384; “The Walker Manufacturing Co.” (16-page booklet) (BTW/LOC).

  Because advance publicity—“The Tuskegee Negro Farmers’ Conference,” Indpls. Freeman, Nov. 25, 1911.

  purchased a second building—“Wonderful Success of Mme. C. J. Walker,” The Colored American Review, Mar. 1916 (GSC/CU, Vol. 41).

  Her annual earnings—Report of the 13th Annual Convention of the NNBL held at Chicago, Illinois, Aug. 21–23, 1912, p. 154.

  “if it is necessary to remain”—Louis R. Harlan, “Booker T. Washington,” Humanities, May–June 1997.

  “I fear you misunderstand”—BTW to MW, Dec. 6, 1911 (BTW/LOC); Harlan and Smock, The BTW Papers, p. 398.

  “the Negro farmer often passes”—Booker T. Washington, The Negro in Business (Wichita, KS: DeVore & Sons, 1992, reprint of Hertel, Jenkins & Co., 1907), p. 18.

  “a meeting of poor farmers”—BTW to MW, Dec. 6, 1911, Harlan and Smock, The BTW Papers, p. 398.

  “well acquainted”—Ibid.

  but it appears that Emmett J. Scott—E-mail from Scott biographer Maceo Crenshaw Dailey, Jr., to author, Oct. 15, 1998.

  Washington’s authorized ghostwriter—Ibid.; “I think I am right about the signature. Having pored so long over the documents, I noticed many curious habits”—Dailey Email, Oct. 16, 1998.

  he may or may not have consulted Washington—Dailey E-mail, Oct. 15, 1998.

  Washington’s Iago—Harlan, Booker T. Washington, pp. xi–xii.

  “it was almost impossible to tell”—Louis R. Harlan, “Booker T. Washington,” in Logan and Winston, DANB, p. 550.

  Washington “first opposed”—Harlan and Smock, The BTW Papers, p. 385.

  “paint and powder” were undesirable artifice—Mary F. Armstrong, On Habits and Manners (Hampton, VA: Normal School Press, 1888), p. 31, cited in Kathy Peiss, Hope in a Jar: The Making of America’s Beauty Culture (New York: Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt, 1998), p. 25.

  he “deliberately left out”—Louis R. Harlan phone conversation with author, Sept. 11, 1989; Washington, The Negro in Business, p. 105.

  The two black women hairdressers—Report of the Second Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League at Chicago, Illinois, Aug. 21–23, 1901 (Chicago: R. S. Abbott Publishing Company, 1901), p. 29; Carrie W. Clifford, “The Story of the Business Career of Mrs. M. E. Williams,” in Report of the Sixth Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League held in New York City, Aug. 16th–18th, 1905, pp. 119–20.

  “view with alarm”—BTW, Dec. 18, 1911, to Fred R. Moore, in Harlan and Smock, The BTW Papers, Vol. 11, p. 420. (Special thanks to Kenneth Hamilton for identifying this letter.)

  “clandestinely advanced money”—Thornbrough, “Booker T. Washington,” in Logan and Winston, DANB, p. 635.

  “You ought to very seriously”—BTW to Moore, Dec. 18, 1911.

  “no identifiable ‘cosmetics industry’”—Peiss, Hope in a Jar, p. 19.

  “an emergent class”—Ibid., p. 97.

  “devised a national system”—Ibid.

  made “cosmetics affordable”—Ibid., p. 99.

  “It is pleasant to note”—FBR to LWR, Dec. 6, 1911 (MWC/IHS).

  had begun calling herself—“City and Vicinity,” Indpls. Freeman, Dec. 23, 1911.

  “sweet and kind letter”—“Louise” to Charles J. Walker, Jan. 11, 1912 (MWC/IHS).

  letter of introduction—The Taylor letter does not appear to be extant in the BTW/LOC papers. There is no correspondence listed between Taylor and Washington.

  “She came knocking”—Louis Harlan phone conversation with author, Sept. 11, 1989; Harlan believed he had heard the story from Washington’s daughter, Portia Washington Pittman, though, at the time of Madam Walker’s January 1912 visit, Portia was likely in Washington, DC, with her husband, Sidney Pittman, whom she had married in October 1907. (See Harlan, Booker T. Washington, p. 119, for the marriage.)

  “be kind enough to introduce me”—MW to BTW, Jan. 17, 1912 (BTW/LOC).

  “I want them to know”—Ibid.

  “It is possible Scott may have taken some liberties”—Dailey E-mail, Oct. 15, 1998. “This is conjectural, but worth pursuing—I sense something ‘afoul,’” wrote Dailey.

  “I have talked with Mr. Washington”—Emmett Scott to MW, Jan. 17, 1912 (BTW/LOC).

  That evening in chapel—MW to BTW, Jan. 17, 1912.

  She urged them—Ibid.

  Scott was its editor—Dailey to author, Jan. 2000.

  “The folklore is”—Harlan phone conversation with author, Sept. 11, 1989.

  “84 demonstrative treatments”—“Mme. C. J. Walker at Tuskegee,” Indpls. World, undated, but probably Jan 27, 1912 (BTW/LOC).

  As president of the Mothers’ Council—“My Visit to Tuskegee Industrial Institute,” Indpls. Freeman, undated clipping, probably D
ec. 16 or 23, 1911.

  “no end to her praises”—“Mme. C. J. Walker at Tuskegee.”

  kindness “shown both myself”—MW to BTW, Mar. 29, 1912 (BTW/LOC, Box 726, Donations 1912).

  Her $5 contribution—Ibid.

  Washington thanked her “heartily”—BTW to MW, Apr. 16, 1912 (BTW/LOC, Box 726, Donations 1912).

  For her local representative—“Mme. C. J. Walker at Tuskegee”; FBR to Dora Larrie, Sept. 26, 1913 (MWC/IHS). The agent’s name has many spelling variations in the newspaper articles where she is mentioned, including Cora Larry, Dora Larrie and Dora Larry; FBR’s letter is addressed to Dora Larrie.

  headed south again—“Mme. C. J. Walker at Tuskegee.”

  In late March they reunited—FBR to MW, Mar. 26, 1912 (MWC/IHS).

  “laid our plans”—“C. J. Walker Says: ‘As You Reap So Shall You Sow’—Former Husband of Well-Known Hair Manufacturer Regrets Past Life,” Indpls. Freeman, Mar. 21, 1914.

  “be master of the situation”—Ibid.

  “She realized that everything”—Violet Reynolds interview with author, July 1982.

  trip “cut short”—“Returns Home,” Indpls. Freeman, Apr. 13, 1912.

  “the moral and social”—“Locals and Personals—Madam C. J. Walker,” Indpls. Recorder, July 13, 1912. The article says Lynch is from South Carolina, but other sources give her location as North Carolina.

  was “poorly ventilated”—Harlan, Booker T. Washington, pp. 417 and 420.

  “No matter how many colored women”—Ibid., p. 417, cites Booker T. Washington, “Is the Negro Having a Fair Chance?” Century, Nov. 1912.

  Fortunately for Madam Walker—Madam Walker’s treatment on Pullman cars is based on the author’s family oral history.

  400 purposeful black women—“Women Hold Big Convention,” New York Age, Aug. 1, 1912, p. 1.

  250 students—Bernice Reagon, “Mary McLeod Bethune,” in Logan and Winston, DANB, pp. 41–42.

  By 1912—Elaine M. Smith, “Mary McLeod Bethune,” in Hine et al., Black Women in America, p. 115.

  “No matter how deep my hurt”—Reagon, “Mary McLeod Bethune,” pp. 41–42.

  “declared in favor of full woman suffrage”—“The Meeting of the NACW at Hampton, Virginia,” Chicago Broad Ax, Aug. 10, 1912.

  seventeen-year-old Virginia Christian—“Christian Virginia vs. Virginia Christian,” The Crisis, Sept. 1912, p. 237.

  “In a blind rage”—Ibid., pp. 237–38.

  “irresponsible being”—“Women Hold Big Convention.”

  declared mentally incompetent—New York Age, Aug. 1, 1912.

  “Owing to all the circumstances”—Minutes of the Eighth Biennial Convention of the NACW, July 23–27, 1912, Hampton Normal and Industrial Institute, p. 21.

  declined to “show clemency”—Ibid., p. 36.

  donation to cover all travel costs—Ibid., p. 40.

  “rising vote of thanks”—Ibid.

  “a great deal to improve”—Ibid., p. 20.

  “captivated the vast audience”—Walker Company Booklet, 1919, p. 15.

  At noon they docked—1912 NACW Biennial Minutes, p. 70; “Women Hold Big Convention.”

  essential “instrument” for achieving—Harlan, Booker T. Washington, p. 269.

  W.E.B. Du Bois recommended “the organization”—Harlan, Booker T. Washington, p. 266, cites W.E.B. Du Bois, ed., The Negro in Business: Report of a Social Study made under the Direction of Atlanta University; Together with the Proceedings of the Fourth Conference for the Study of the Negro Problems, held at Atlanta University, May 30–31, 1899 (Atlanta University Publications, No. 4, 1899), pp. 12 and 50. In 1896 a group of men and women from thirteen states formed the Invincible Sons and Daughters of Commerce, “a national incorporated secret society of Colored merchants and buyers,” preceding the NNBL by four years. See “The Invincible Sons and Daughters of Commerce, 1899,” in Herbert Aptheker, A Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States, Vol. 2: From Reconstruction to the Founding of the N.A.A.C.P. (New York: Citadel Press, 1990), pp. 774–75.

  black “economic salvation”—E. Franklin Frazier, Black Bourgeoisie (New York: Collier Books, 1962), p. 130.

  economic nationalism as a defense—Du Bois, The Negro in Business, cited in Frazier, Black Bourgeoisie, p. 130.

  “Business seems to be not only simply”—Ibid.

  “The policy of avoiding entrance”—Abram L. Harris, The Negro as Capitalist: A Study of Banking and Business among American Negroes (Chicago: Urban Research, 1992 reprint), p. 64, cites Du Bois, The Negro in Business, p. 59.

  “During America’s greatest industrial”—Juliet E. K. Walker, The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship (New York: Macmillan Library Reference, USA, 1998), p. 182.

  “the total wealth”—Ibid. The fifteenth annual report of the National Negro Business League contradicts the year, citing $700 million as the worth of black America’s wealth in 1914. See 1913 NNBL Report (Nashville: Sunday School Union, 1914), p. 18.

  Du Bois’s postconference study—David Levering Lewis, W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race 1868–1919 (New York: Henry Holt, 1993), p. 220.

  eliminated his meager postage budget—Harlan, Booker T. Washington, pp. 266–67.

  Washington set about contacting—Ibid., p. 266.

  Wells publicly accused Washington—Ibid., p. 267.

  “the business league idea was born”—Ibid., p. 266

  “the myth of Negro business”—Frazier, Black Bourgeoisie, p. 135.

  “an organized body of loyal”—Harlan, Booker T. Washington, p. 266.

  “These discriminations are only blessings”—Report of the Fourth Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League (Wilberforce, OH, 1903), p. 24, cited in August Meier, Negro Thought in America, 1880–1915 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998), p. 125.

  To some degree—August Meier and David Levering Lewis, “History of the Negro Upper Class in Atlanta, Georgia, 1890–1958,” in Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 28 (Spring 1959), p. 128.

  “No race that has anything to contribute”—“The Atlanta Exposition Address,” in Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery (New York: Penguin Books, 1986), p. 223.

  he had chosen to ignore—“Side Lights on the Meeting of the National Negro Business League,” Chicago Broad Ax, Aug. 31, 1912.

  Nearly 2,000 visitors—R. W. Thompson, “Recent League Meet!” Aug. 31, 1918.

  $500,000 holdings in Brockton—Report of the 13th Annual Convention of the NNBL held at Chicago, Illinois, Aug. 21–23, 1912, pp. 34–39.

  Endowment fund of more than $1.2 million—Colored American Review, Nov. 1915.

  “If we do not do our duty now”—1912 NNBL Convention, p. 50.

  That evening Mrs. Julia H. P. Coleman—Ibid., p. 66.

  “Every year the styles”—Ibid., p. 64.

  “By force of circumstance”—Ibid., p. 65.

  “manufactured by our colored women”—Ibid., p. 65.

  Instead Washington complimented Coleman—Ibid., p. 66.

  “the largest Colored manufacturing enterprise”—“The 13th Annual Meeting of the NNBL,” Chicago Broad Ax, Aug. 24, 1912, pp. 1 and 9.

  “for the most beautiful colored woman”—1912 NNBL Convention, pp. 99–100.

  “I arise to ask”—Ibid., p. 100.

  Sidney Pittman, had designed—“Success in Architecture,” Indpls. Recorder, Mar. 27, 1909.

  “But, Mr. Knox, we are”—1912 NNBL Convention, p. 101.

  uniform manufacturer—“Colored Man Takes High Rank,” Indpls. Freeman, Dec. 16, 1911.

  contributed only $250 to the building fund—Ibid.

  Then, as Washington thanked—1912 NNBL Convention, pp. 145–53.

  “Surely you are not going to shut the door”—Ibid., p. 154.

  “I went into a business that is despised”—Ibid.

  “I have been trying to get before you”—Ibid.

  “I am
not ashamed of my past”—Ibid.

  “Everybody told me”—Ibid.

  “I have built my own factory”—Ibid.

  “Please don’t applaud”—Ibid.

  “Now my object in life”—Ibid., p. 155.

  “My ambition is to build”—Ibid.

  “I arise to attest”—Ibid.

  “The next banker to address us”—Ibid.

  the “big hits” of the conference—Indpls. Freeman, Sept. 14, 1912.

  CHAPTER 12 BREAKING TIES, MAKING TIES

  F. B. Ransom filed papers—Sarah Walker v. Charles J. Walker, Cause No. 87943, Marion County Superior Court Docket, Sept. 5, 1912.

  October 5, after C.J. had failed to appear—Walker v. Walker, Divorce Decree, Cause No. 87943, Marion County Superior Court.

  “no money” was paid—Walker v. Walker

  C.J. placed two advertisements—“For Long and Beautiful Hair,” Walker-Prosser Co., Indpls. Freeman, Sept. 14, 1912; “C. J. Walker (Walker-Prosser Co.),” Indpls. Freeman, Sept. 14, 1912.

  “We did not do so well”—“C. J. Walker Says: ‘As You Reap So Shall You Sow’—Former Husband of Well-Known Hair Manufacturer Regrets Past Life,” Indpls. Freeman, Mar. 21, 1914.

  “We were not married long”—Ibid.

  “All I got was ten cents”—Ibid.

  “When we began to make ten dollars”—“10,000 in Her Employ,” New York Age, undated, but probably early 1916.

  But of course their philosophical differences—Ibid.

  “let drink and this designing evil woman”—“C. J. Walker Says”; FBR to CJW, July 6, 1914 (MWC/IHS).

  “still love better than life”—“C. J. Walker Says.”

  “Madam does not understand”—FBR to CJW, July 6, 1914.

  “keep sober”—Ibid.

  “worse than” Dora Larrie—Agnes “Peggie” Prosser to MW, undated letter (MWC/IHS).

  “Say Mme, How would you like”—CJW to MW, undated letter (MWC/IHS).