On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780743431729)

Soon to be a Netflix series starring Octavia Spencer, On Her Own Ground is the first full-scale biography of "one of the great success stories of American history" (The Philadelphia Inquirer), Madam C.J. Walker--the legendary African American entrepreneur and philanthropist--by her great-great-granddaughter, A'Lelia Bundles.The daughter of formerly enslaved parents, Sarah Breedlove--who would become known as Madam C. J. Walker--was orphaned at seven, married at fourteen, and widowed at twenty. She spent the better part of the next two decades laboring as a washerwoman for $1.50 a week. Then--with the discovery of a revolutionary hair care formula for black women--everything changed. By her death in 1919, Walker managed to overcome astonishing odds: building a storied beauty empire from the ground up, amassing wealth unprecedented among black women, and devoting her life to philanthropy and social activism. Along the way, she formed friendships with great early-twentieth-century political figures such as Ida B. Wells, Mary McLeod Bethune, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Booker T. Washington.

Author: A'Lelia Bundles
ISBN-10: 0743431723
ISBN-13: 9780743431729
Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Language: English
Published: 01/01/2002
Pages: 416
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 9.28h x 6.18w x 1.14d
Award: Hurston/Wright LEGACY Award - Nominee

Review Citation(s):
New York Times 01/13/2002 pg. 24
Black Issues Book Review 03/01/2002 pg. 35
New York Review of Books 12/05/2002 pg. 57
Ebony 02/01/2009 pg. 85