Madame CJ Walker

Madame CJ Walker was born December 23rd, 1867 with the name of Sarah Breedlove. She was an African American and the first person in her family to be born free. Her family lived in a dirt floor shack when she was born on a plantation in Delta, Loiusiana. Her family and the Burney family were sharecroppers but the Burney family owned the cotton fields. By five years olds she worked on the plantation in the cotton fields for 12 hours per day. Soon the long hours in the sun started to damage Sarah's hair. Sarah became determined to put a stop to her hair loss with home remedies and began experimenting.

At the age of 14 , she married Moses McWilliams. When she was 18 years old, they had a baby named Lelia. In 1887, when Sarah was 20 years old, Moses McWilliams was killed by a lynch mob. Some people think Moses was killed because Sarah supported an anti-lynch mob organization. The organization raised money to help stop lynching. Now despite her sorrow Sarah now had to find a way to support herself and her young child.