“My heart is changed”—Ibid.
whined about his rheumatism—CJW to MW, Mar. 11, 1917 (MWC/IHS).
selling her formula—FBR to CJW, undated letter (MWC/IHS). C.J. denied revealing the formula (“I refused absolutely to give” the formula to others) in “C. J. Walker Says.”
“would spend every penny that she ever had”—FBR to CJW, undated letter.
Lelia legally adopted thirteen-year-old Mae—Adoption of Fairy Mae Bryant by Mrs. Lelia Walker Robinson, Decree of Court, Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, No. 505, January Term, 1913, Docket “A”; Janice M. McNamara, Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Orphans’ Court Division to author, Aug. 31, 1998. (The adoption occurred on Oct. 22, 1912.)
Fairy Mae as she ran errands—Marion R. Perry, phone interview, circa 1982.
“young girl solicitor”—“Madam Walker” announcement, Indpls. Recorder, Mar. 19, 1910; “Is Your Hair Short?” Walker ad, Indpls. Recorder, Apr. 16, 1910.
“good commission”—Ibid.
“Mae had beautiful hair”—Margaret Bryant interview with author and Stanley Nelson, Sept. 22, 1982.
rented rooms at the rear of 636 North West Street—1912 Indianapolis City Directory. Samira Hammond is listed at 611 West North Street in the 1911 city directory and at 640 North West Street in the 1912 city directory. Since data was gathered for city directories in the year before publication, it is reasonable to assume that she was living at 640 North West Street before the end of 1911.
born in 1867—1880 Tenth Annual U.S. Census, Noblesville Township, Hamilton County, Indiana, Microfilm T-9, Roll No. 281; Sarah Etta Hammond Bryant, Marion County Health Department Death Certificate filed April 1927. Date of death: April 27, 1927. (Birth date on death certificate—Jan. 10, 1874—is incorrect.)
Indiana Avenue cafe—1912 Indianapolis City Directory.
“Little Miss Farrie [sic] Bryant”—“Noblesville,” Indpls. Recorder, Aug. 7, 1909.
served in the Continental Army—Paul Heinegg, Free African Americans of North Carolina and Virginia (3rd ed.; Baltimore: Clearfield Company, 1997), p. 600, and Paul Heinegg, Free African Americans of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, MD and Delaware (www.freeafricanamericans.com/Roberts_Skip.htm, March 1999), p. 6; Jeffrey J. Crow, Paul D. Escott and Flora J. Hatley, A History of African Americans in North Carolina (Raleigh: North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 1994), p. 36. The author is deeply indebted to historian and genealogist Coy D. Robbins, Jr., for revealing this important piece of my family history. Without his diligent scholarship and research, I may never have discovered this on my own.
born circa 1755—Paul Heinegg, Free African Americans (Internet site), p. 6. (Ishmael Roberts lived circa 1755–1826.)
Cherokee wife, Silvey—Coy D. Robbins, Jr., Forgotten Hoosiers: African Heritage in Orange County, Indiana (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1994), p. 136, says there were 639 free black families in North Carolina in 1790. (Research on Silvey’s Native American ancestry is incomplete at this time, but family oral history and Cherokee Claims applications identify her as Cherokee.)
North Carolina’s 5,041 free people of color—John Hope Franklin, The Free Negro in North Carolina 1790–1860 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995, originally published 1943), p. 14, cites John Cummings, Negro Population in the United States, 1790–1915 (Washington, DC, 1918), p. 57.
900 acres of land—Paul Heinegg, Free African Americans (3rd ed.), p. 600.
ancestors had never been slaves—Della Hammond Ashley, Eastern Cherokee Application No. 25682, National Archives, Reel 213, M1104 Cabinet 094–01.
“stripped the free Negro”—Guion Griffis Johnson, Ante-bellum North Carolina: A Social History (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1937), cited in Crow et al., A History of African Americans, p. 48.
by 1835 the state’s lawmakers—Franklin, The Free Negro, pp. 58–74; Crow et al., A History, p. 48.
By 1840, more than 150 people with the surname Roberts—Robbins, Forgotten Hoosiers, p. 136, cites Carter G. Woodson, Free Negro Heads of Families in the United States in 1830 (Washington, DC: Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1925), pp. 225–26.
Elias Roberts—Roberts was born in 1793 and died in 1866. See Paul Heinegg, Free African Americans of Virginia, p. 10.
Nancy Archer Roberts—The daughter of Thomas Archer, a Revolutionary War soldier, she lived from 1800 to 1876.
“although persons of Couleur”—Certificate of Freedom, Chatham County, NC, Feb. 10, 1823 (Coy D. Robbins, Jr., to author, Feb. 2, 2000); Robbins, Forgotten Hoosiers, p. 37, and Robbins, Indiana Negro Registers 1852–1856 (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1994); I do not know when Elias and Nancy Archie/Archer Roberts arrived in Orange County, though there is an Elias Roberts listed in the 1830 (Fifth) U.S. Census. See Robbins, Forgotten Hoosiers, p 153.
“no negro or mulatto”—Article XIII of the 1851 Indiana State Constitution went into effect in 1853; see Robbins, Forgotten Hoosiers, pp. 41–49; Thornbrough, The Negro in Indiana Before 1900, pp. 67–68. Only six of the nine Thomas children appear on the rolls. Candiss Roberts Thomas may have been pregnant with her last child when they registered on Aug. 27, 1853.
One of those children was Samira—“Register of Negroes and Mulattoes in Orange County, Indiana, 1853” (IHS); Robbins, Forgotten Hoosiers, pp. 45 and 49.
Vigo County, Indiana, widower—Robbins to author, Feb. 2, 2000.
“full blood Cherokee Indian”—Della Hammond Ashley, Cherokee Claims affidavit. Application denied in 1908.
Sadly Littleton died in 1876—Littleton-Samira THOMAS Hammond, Orange County, Indiana Family Group Record A:ROBERTSI.G21 from Coy D. Robbins, Jr.; Samira later married a man named Joseph K. Scott (1833–1916) on Jan. 28, 1894, in Hamilton County, Indiana.
Federal Hill area—Robbins, Forgotten Hoosiers, p. 139.
Perry Bryant died . . . Grand Master of the Masons presided—“Perry Bryant,” Indpls. Recorder, July 3, 1909.
It may have been during Fairy Mae’s trip to Harlem—Margaret Bryant interview with author and Stanley Nelson, Sept. 22, 1982.
“turned her head”—Ibid.
was not so quickly or so easily persuaded—Ibid.
“Mae was very special”—Robbins E-mail to author, Nov. 4, 1997.
“Etta did not see it as giving up”—Ibid.
rose-and-gold drawing room—“America’s Foremost Colored Woman,” Indpls. Freeman, Dec. 28, 1912.
In the library—Ibid.
On a table covered with Battenberg—Ibid.
would never have any significant involvement—Robinson v. Robinson, pp. 1–3.
buy property on both coasts—FBR to LWR, Dec. 10, 1912 (MWC/IHS).
house hunting in Los Angeles—Ibid.
she “would make an ideal real estate agent”—Ibid.
“The write-up in the Freeman”—FBR to MW, Jan. 1, 1913 (MWC/IHS).
CHAPTER 13 SWEET SATISFACTION
tossed packets—Violet Reynolds to author, undated phone conversation and Dec. 1975 interview.
“Your business is increasing”—FBR to MW, May 2, 1913 (MWC/IHS).
more than $11,000—Report of the 14th Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League, Philadelphia, August 20, 21, 22, 1913 (Washington, DC: William H. Davis, Official Stenographer), p. 210.
“You will . . . have to keep a little mum”—FBR to MW, May 2, 1913.
greater than $3,000—Lorraine Glennon, ed., Our Times: The Illustrated History of the 20th Century (Atlanta: Turner Publishing, 1995), p. 69.
less than $800—Scott Derks, ed., The Value of a Dollar (Detroit: Gale Research, 1994), p. 123.
highest tax bracket—Glennon, Our Times, p. 69.
“Madam is in a fair way to be”—FBR to LWR, May 27, 1913, and June 30, 1913 (MWC/IHS); Lelia and Mae were living at 592 Lenox Avenue, Apt. 12, in late May 1913 while awaiting renovations on 108 W. 136th Street, where they moved in June 1913.
she had begun to buy real estate—1914 NNBL Report, p. 152; FBR to LWR, May 27, 1913.
“Oh, it’s the latest thing in autos”—FBR to LWR, May 27, 1913; comparable to a Cadillac—Frank N. Ownings, Jr., “Cole Motor Car Company,” in Bodenhamer and Barrows, Encyclopedia, p. 456; Beverley Rae Kimes and Henry Austin Clark, Jr., Standard Catalog of American Cars: 1805–1942 (3rd ed., Iola, WI: Kraus Publications, 1996), pp. 350–51.
Madam Walker had no quarrel with her daughter’s choice—FBR to MW, June 30, 1913 (MWC/IHS).
“perfectly beautiful”—Ibid.
“I want you to join me”—FBR to LWR, May 27, 1913.
Anxious that he be shown “every courtesy”—“Dr. Booker T. Washington,” Indpls. Freeman, July 12, 1913.
“an army of newspaper people”—Ibid.
“in the best of those splendid rooms”—Ibid.; MW to BTW, July 28, 1913 (BTW/NNBL Microfilm Reel 3, Correspondence, T-Y/Dec. 1912; June–Nov. 1913).
“Doctor, your time’s up!”—Indpls. Freeman, July 12, 1913.
filling every available space—“New YMCA Opened,” Ibid.
Fairbanks introduced Washington—“Dedication Program—Dr. Booker T. Washington Speaker at New YMCA,” Indpls. Recorder, July 12, 1913, and “New YMCA Opened.”
“This building should make our young men”—Indpls. Freeman, July 12, 1913.
“Let this building”—Ibid.
He chose not to mention—Ibid.
singled her out—Ibid.
“a real pleasure”—MW to BTW, July 28, 1913. BTW’s note to MW has not yet been found in the BTW or Walker papers.
“I shall read it with pleasure”—Ibid.
In Harlem, Lelia joined them—1913 NNBL Report, p. 311 (Lelia was listed among the registrants).
Arriving in her Cole—R. W. Thompson, “The Negro Women in Business,” Indpls. Freeman, Sept. 20, 1913.
“a striking example”—1913 NNBL Report, p. 18.
she proudly introduced her daughter—Ibid.
“progressive business woman”—1913 NNBL Report, p. 185; C. K. and Jessie Robinson are listed in the 1913 membership directory.
“I now take pleasure in introducing”—Ibid. p. 210.
“Mr. President and members”—Ibid.
Now with a full week still remaining—Ibid., p. 211.
“You can readily see”—Ibid.
Proficient in Greek—A’Lelia Walker, 1920 Walker Agents Convention speech, p. 3.
“honesty of purpose”—1913 NNBL Report, p. 212.
“We thank her for her excellent address”—Ibid.
“You talk about what the men are doing”—Ibid.
Under the refrain—Ibid.
“I know absolutely nothing”—MW to BTW, Sept. 27, 1913 (BTW/LOC).
“I wish I could offer”—BTW to MW, Oct. 4, 1913 (BTW/LOC).
“We ourselves have been”—Ibid.
sent three Tuskegee graduates—Harlan, Booker T. Washington, pp. 267–68.
Despite the promising enrollment—p. 268.
At Washington’s request—“Personal Mention,” Indpls. Recorder, Feb. 21, 1914; Scott to MW, Feb. 24, 1914 (MWC/IHS).
more than 1,500 young men and women—“Tuskegee Institute’s Work Given in Report,” Indpls. Recorder, Oct. 31, 1914.
“Next year I hope”—MW to BTW, Mar. 13, 1914 (BTW /LOC, Box 746, 1914 Donation File).
“while it is true I have a large business”—MW to BTW, May 5, 1914 (BTW/LOC).
Her intention to “build”—MW to BTW, Mar. 13, 1914.
“whom I am educating”—1914 NNBL Report, p. 152; MW to BTW, Mar. 13, 1914; MW to BTW, May 5, 1914.
“I am unlike your white friends”—MW to BTW, May 5, 1914.
Beginning in the 1890s—Harlan, Booker T. Washington, p. 130.
At first Carnegie—Ibid., pp. 134–35.
teaching “it as you would any other industry”—MW to BTW, Mar. 13, 1914.
“It would add quite a revenue”—Ibid.
Washington declined the offer—BTW to MW, Mar. 24, 1914 (BTW/LOC).
his “very great pleasure”—Ibid.
“in regards to adopting my work”—MW to BTW, May 5, 1914.
“I think I have demonstrated”—Ibid.
“If you can not see your way clear”—Ibid.
“I have already written you frankly”—BTW to MW, May 22, 1914.
It is unlikely—BTW was “barely running Tuskegee by then,” according to Maceo Crenshaw Dailey, Jr. (undated correspondence with author).
a friendly reception—MW to BTW, Aug. 27, 1914, Records of the NNBL, Part 2: Correspondence and Business Records, 1900–1923, Microfilm Reel 5, Correspondence “U” to “Y,” Jan.–Dec. 1914 (University Publications of America, Bethesda, MD); 1914 NNBL Report, p. 12.
“She always says something”—Ibid., p. 150
“not only makes money”—Ibid.
“unexpected pleasure”—Ibid.
“In coming before you”—Ibid.
“I am not merely satisfied”—Ibid.
“I had little or no opportunity”—Ibid.
“it will help me to be of more practical service”—Ibid., p. 152
“If the truth were known”—Ibid.
“the foremost business woman of our race”—Ibid., pp. 152–53.
Both the Court of Calanthe—Walker Company Booklet, 1919, p. 12; R. W. Thompson, “The Negro Women in Business,” Indpls. Freeman, Sept. 20, 1913.
“as the best on the market”—Minutes, National Association of Colored Women 1914 Convention, Wilberforce, OH, p. 32.
lectures entitled “The Negro Woman in Business”—Indpls. Freeman, Sept. 20, 1913.
“pronounced hit”—“Mme. C. J. Walker’s Return Home,” Indpls. Freeman, Feb. 7, 1914.
she encouraged the “women of the race”—Indpls. Freeman, Sept. 20, 1913.
president of the National Negro Press Association—Pride and Wilson, A History of the Black Press, pp. 175–76.
“The girls and women of our race”—1913 NNBL Report, p. 210.
“employing hundreds of Negro girls”—Ibid., p. 211.
Even her latest ads emphasized training—“Learn to Grow Hair,” Walker ad, Indpls. Freeman, Apr. 12, 1913.
Washington disciple—Harlan, Booker T. Washington, p. 95.
“And no matter where she goes”—Indpls. Freeman, Sept. 20, 1913.
“motor parties to Baltimore”—Ibid.
After an October 31 farewell—“Good News from Madam Walker,” Chicago Broad Ax, Jan. 24, 1914.
ten-day National Emancipation Exposition—Reid Badger, A Life in Ragtime: A Biography of James Reese Europe (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), pp. 74–75; Howard Dodson, Christopher Moore and Roberta Yancy, The Black New Yorkers: The Schomburg Illustrated Chronology (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2000), pp. 94–95.
In New York—“Madam Walker Sails for Cuba,” Chicago Defender, Nov. 29, 1913.
40,000 West Indians now lived—“Items of Race Interest,” Indpls. Freeman, Nov. 25, 1911.
Mme. Anita Patti Brown—“Famous Clef Club Gives Concert, Mme. Anita Patti Brown Visits the Capital,” Indpls. Freeman, Nov. 22, 1913; Southern, The Music of Black Americans, p. 282.
“a triumphal tour” of Jamaica—“Summary of the News,” Chicago Daily News, Aug. 20, 1912.
Born in Atlanta—The Crisis, Vol. 10, No. 4, Aug. 1915, p. 169.
Oruba on November 8—Indpls. Freeman, Nov. 22, 1913; “City and Vicinity,” Indpls.Freeman, Nov. 8, 1913; “Madam Walker Sails for Cuba,” Chicago Defender, Nov. 29, 1913; “Mme. C. J. Walker’s Return Home,” Indpls. Freeman, Feb. 7, 1914; “News in a Nutshell,” Indpls. Freeman, Feb. 7, 1914; “Good News from Madam Walker,” Chicago Broad Ax, Jan. 24, 1914.
In Kingston—Chicago Broad Ax, Ja
n. 24, 1914; Indpls. Freeman, Feb. 7, 1914.
“black custom house officials”—James Weldon Johnson, Along This Way: The Autobiography of James Weldon Johnson (New York: Penguin Books, 1990), p. 267.
“a strange sort of luxury”—“An Amazing Island,” The Crisis, June 1915, p. 80.
“She was gratified”—Indpls. Freeman, Feb. 7, 1914.
“Long moonlight sails”—Chicago Broad Ax, Jan. 24, 1914; Indpls. Freeman, Jan. 17, 1914.
their “outer walls . . . whitewashed”—Johnson, Along This Way, p. 349.
“a grand round of pleasure”—R. W. Thompson, “Short Flights,” Indpls. Freeman, Jan. 3, 1914.
“on a level that for wealth and culture”—Johnson, Along This Way, p. 349.
“official family”—Chicago Broad Ax, Jan. 24, 1914.
violent deaths between 1912 and 1915—“May Have Killed President,” Baltimore Afro-American Ledger, Aug. 24, 1912.
“men and boys are, on the slightest pretext”—“Madam C. J. Walker, of Indianapolis, Seeing the Islands of the Southern Seas,” Indpls. Freeman, Jan. 17, 1914.
cells were “bare with dirt floors”—Ibid.
“18 chickens, one turkey”—Ibid.
The “real ‘Chamber of Horrors’”—Ibid.
With “their baskets balanced”—Johnson, Along This Way, p. 350.
In late January—“Mme. C. J. Walker’s Return Home” and “City and Vicinity,” Indpls. Freeman, Feb. 7, 1914.
CHAPTER 14 NEW HORIZONS
“Fire and ice”—Violet Reynolds, conversation with author, Dec. 1975.
More than 200 guests—“Mme. C. J. Walker Entertains in Honor of Her Daughter, Mrs. Lelia Robinson, of New York,” Indpls. Recorder, Apr. 25, 1914.
Even the Walker women’s attire—Ibid.
gold-tasseled dance programs—Original dance program, author’s Walker Family Collection.
Men in cutaway coats—Indpls. Recorder, Apr. 25, 1914.
Tenor Noble Sissle—Dance program; “Personal Mention,” Indpls. Recorder, Apr. 11, 1914; Indpls. Recorder, Apr. 25, 1914; “Personal Mention,” Indpls. Recorder, Apr. 25, 1914; Bodenhamer and Barrows, Encyclopedia, p. 1264.
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