Born Sarah Breedlove, Walker descended from slaves who died when she was still a child. While many young children would have been too traumatized to overcome the death of two parents, she and her sister took jobs laboring in kitchens, and on farms until they could sustain themselves. In 1910, after forming the Hair Culturists’ Union of America in Indianapolis, she made it a point to find allies in the Black political community. She moved to New York in 1916, building (with the help of the first registered black architect) a palatial home that rivaled any in the Hudson River Valley.

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How she came into the hair business was no coincidence. Walker may have suffered from alopecia, a rare ailment that is characterized by little or no hair growth on the body. As a response to her own condition, Walker created a formula (that she claimed had been delivered to her in a dream) to restore hair growth. While many say she did invent a metal “hot comb” specifically for Black women to straighten out the curl in their roots, that is not accurate. The primary cause of her hair loss was the result of a common problem of the era i.e. infrequent washing and products that were not designed for the hair of Black women.

With her ingenious marketing in every Black publication, and her constant travel to trade shows, Walker became a household name. She interrupted Booker T. Washington’s prestigious National Negro Business League Convention after Washington had apparently ignored her requests to speak. As a woman who had founded and developed one of the nation’s most formidable businesses, she would not be denied the right to correlate with her peers on the same level.

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Not one to horde her riches, Walker moved to create philanthropic projects that would help Black communities. She funded the YMCA building in Indianapolis where her business was, donated to the NAACP, and traveled to Woodrow Wilson’s White House to present an anti-lynching petition after violent outbursts had killed Blacks in an Illinois riot. She passed on her legacy of philanthropy to daughter A’Lelia, who was responsible for creating “The Dark Tower,” a salon that hosted Black writers and artists who would display their work during the Harlem Renaissance. Walker died of kidney disease, and bequeathed her estate to her female heirs.

In 1911 Madam Walker pledged $1000 toward the building fund of the black YMCA in Indianapolis. She was one of many funders.

Take a look at more great Black women in history in our gallery below:

When slavery was finally outlawed during the Civil War, few Americans took the removal of the slaves’ shackles to mean that the African should be accorded equal status with the white man. Yet, in 1903, just 40 years after the Emancipation, one man dared to envision such a future. W.E.B. Du Bois’s book, “The Souls of Black Folk,” made its author the foremost Black thinker, writer and sociologist of the early 20th Century. More importantly, Du Bois initiated the “great debate” -integration versus segregation, the insistence of equality versus the accommodation of racism – that set in motion a chain of events, ultimately leading to the election of first Black President of the United States. The very election of Barack Obama is a vindication of the convictions and tireless work of W.E.B. Du Bois.

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born in Great Barrington, MA, on February 23rd, 1868. Du Bois attended Fisk University, and became the first Black American in history to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard. His intellectual upbringing informed his philosophies, as later expressed in “The Souls of Black Folk.” Du Bois coined the term “double consciousness” to describe the way that Black Americans led their lives as human beings, yet second-class citizens, in an America that was born on the concept that all men are created equal. Du Bois believed that the path to liberty would lie in educating the top echelon, or “Talented Tenth,” of African-Americans to lead the rest.

Du Bois’s main adversaries were Marcus Garvey and Booker T. Washington. Garvey believed that the quest for parity with white Americans was foolish, and proposed to repatriate freed Blacks to Africa. Washington believed that Du Bois’s tactics would antagonize whites and lead to a disastrous race war. Du Bois called Washington “the Great Accomodator.” Not surprisingly, Washington was favored among the white leaders of his day.

Du Bois was one of the initial founders of the National Association For The Advancement of Colored People, and thus laid the groundwork not only for the Civil Rights movement, but the very idea of partnership with liberal whites to achieve socio-political results.

Du Bois became more radical towards the end of his life, joining the Communist Party in the 1961 at the age of 93, and expatriating to Ghana shortly thereafter. W.E.B. Du Bois died in 1963, just one day before the March on Washington.

Du Bois’s intellect, his insistence on equal rights for Black Americans, and his willingness to form a coalition with whites to achieve his ends formed the model by which Barack Obama ascended to the highest office in the land, and in so doing, liberating us all from the tyranny of racism.

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In 1940, one Black novelist dared to show America what white supremacy did to one Black man. When “Native Son” appeared on America’s bookshelves, it became an instant bestseller, the first title by an African-American author selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club. It also introduced the world to the complicated protagonist of “Native Son,” Chicago’s Bigger Thomas, who was driven to murder a white woman through his terror of white people, not because of hate. Wright, as an accomplished writer, a prophet, and a leftist, helped cut the path on which Barack Obama walked into Chicago’s South Side, onto the local and national political stage, and now, the White House.

Richard Wright, the grandson of slaves, was born on a plantation in Mississippi in 1908. Shuffled between Mississippi and Memphis for most of his childhood, Wright published his first short story, “The Voodoo of Hell’s Half-Acre,” when he was 15. In 1927, after graduating high school, Wright moved to Chicago, where he worked for the post office and wrote in his spare time. During the Great Depression, Wright affiliated with the Communist Party, and Wright penned many of his earliest works for leftist publications. Richard Wright’s career blossomed after he moved to New York in 1937. He mentored Ralph Ellison, published an acclaimed book of short stories called “Uncle Tom’s Children,” and with the help of a Guggenheim Fellowship, wrote “Native Son,” published in 1940.

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“Native Son” was criticized by many people for its violence. Black critics targeted Wright for writing a spectacle that seemed to confirm white America’s worst racist fantasies about Black men. But the book catapulted Wright to the top echelon of American letters. He published his autobiography, “Black Boy,” in 1945.

After World War II, Richard Wright expatriated to France, where he fell in with noted existentialist writer/philosophers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. He traveled to Africa in the 1950s, where he contracted dysentery. The illness contributed to Wright’s failing health before his death in Paris in 1960 of a heart attack. Wright was only 52.

Richard Wright greatly influenced the mindset of white liberals in the 1940s and 50s, and his work inspired the Black activists of the 1960s. “Wright,” said Amiri Baraka, “was one of the people who made me conscious of the need to struggle.” Without a doubt, Wright inspired Barack Obama, too.

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Mary McLeod Bethune, the daughter of slaves, became an early 20th Century educator and civil rights leader, founding both Bethune-Cookman College and the National Council of Negro Women. But Bethune became even more influential as a friend and confidant of Eleanor Roosevelt, and as an advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Negro affairs. Bethune became a member of Roosevelt’s unofficial”Black Cabinet,” the first time Black Americans had that kind of access to the White House. As such, Bethune helped open the very doors that Barack Obama walked through as the first Black president of the United States.

Bethune was born in Mayesville, South Carolina, on July 3, 1875. She was the fifteenth of seventeen children born to former slaves on a plot of land called “Homestead.”

In 1904, Bethune founded a school for Black girls in Daytona, Florida in a time when segregation threatened to destroy the educational aspirations of countless African-Americans. With little money but plenty of time and attention, she lifted the Daytona school to impeccable standards to rival that of the local white public high school. By 1910, the school’s enrollment had increased from its original six students (one being her son, Albert) to 102 students at a four-year high school. Despite Ku Klux Klan efforts to repeatedly thwart her, she made every attempt to raise funds to keep the school growing. By allying with Booker T. Washington shortly after his visit to the Daytona school, Bethune was able to link her institution to wealthy philanthropists from the North. Of these elites, the Roosevelts and Rockefellers may have been the largest donors.

Bethune’s civic participation was not limited to education. She later founded the National Council of Negro Women, and served on the board for the National Association for Colored Women a vocal advocate for women’s rights. In 1936, Mary McLeod Bethune became the first woman to receive a major appointment from the federal government when she was named Director of the Negro Affairs of the National Youth
Administration.

By the time of her death in 1955, she had used her post at the NYA to travel the country surveying the greater social problems, making recommendations to resolve them, and raising money. Bethune was honored with the unveiling of a National Monument on the grounds of the Capitol in Washington, DC, in 1974. Mary McLeod Bethune was commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp in 1985.

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A master of storytelling, Toni Morrison was the first Black woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Pulitzer Prize winning novelist and legendary professor is known for the vivid black characters brought to life in her novels that recreate the Black experience. Morrison’s novels often illuminate themes of slavery, racism, and identity, but also shine with hope for the future. In her first-ever political endorsement, Morrison wrote of a “national evolution” in a letter that publicly endorsed Barack Obama. As an educator and author, Morrison used her authority and standing as a Black pioneer to lay the groundwork for the presidency of Barack Obama.

Morrison was born Chloe Ardelia Wofford, in Lorain, Ohio, on February 18, 1931. An avid reader and learned storyteller, she graduated from high school with honors. In 1953 Morrison received her Bachelors in English from Howard University and then earned her Masters from Cornell.  Morrison soon became an English professor at Texas Southern University in Houston. She later returned to Howard to teach English.

In 1970 Morrison wrote her first novel, “The Bluest Eye,” about a little Black girl that dreamed every night of waking up with blue eyes.  Seven years later, she gained national acclaim with her third novel, “Song of Solomon.” It was the first novel by a black writer to be selected for the Book-of-the-Month Club since Richard Wright’s Native Son in 1940.
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She wrote a play, “Dreaming Emmett,” based on the true story of Emmett Till, an African-American teenager brutally killed by racist whites after allegedly whistling at a white woman in the South. It premiered January 4, 1986. In 1988, Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her novel, “Beloved,”  which was adapted for film by Oprah Winfrey. In 2006, The New York Times Book Review named “Beloved” the best American novel published in the past 25 years.

Morrison taught within the State University of New York system and held the Robert F. Goheen Chair in the Humanities at Princeton University from 1989 until 2006. Morrison authored nine novels, the most recent being “A Mercy.”  She continues to exemplify brilliance in creative writing and sets the bar with her multilayered narrative.

Perhaps the most interesting political moment in Morrison’s career came when she called Bill Clinton “our first Black president.” But in 2008, Morrison backpedaled from that assertion, saying that Clinton was “Black” only in the sense that he had been treated that way. If there was any question of Morrison’s true feelings, it was answered by Morrison’s spurning of Hillary Clinton in favor of Barack Obama.

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Professing to be “unbossed and unbought,” Shirley Chisholm was the first black female major-party candidate for President of the United States, and the first black woman to be elected to Congress. Chisholm wasn’t intent on winning the presidency, but was steadfast on challenging conventions and showing Black America that they could aim high. She set the bar, in many ways, over which President Barack Obama jumped.

Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was born November 30, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York. She attended Brooklyn College, where she majored in sociology; she later earned a Masters from Columbia University.

In 1964, Chisholm ran for and was elected to the New York State Legislature. Four years later, she ran as the Democratic candidate for New York’s 12th District congressional seat and was elected to the House of Representatives. As the first woman in Congress she hired an all-female staff.

Serving seven terms, Chisholm was an outspoken advocate for women, minorities, and the poor: she worked to improve opportunities for inner-city residents. She authored legislation that instituted a program called SEEK (Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge), which provided college funding to disadvantaged youth.

The pinnacle of Chisholm’s ascent occurred in 1972, when she became the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States, and the first female candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. Chisholm won 152 votes at the 1972 Democratic National Convention, but lost.

Chisholm retired from Congress in 1982, but remained a public figure and voice. On January 1, 2005, Shirley Chisholm died. Chisholm, as politician, author, and educator, overcame her two largest “handicaps,” being a woman and being black. She fought for political change in the 20th century that allowed tangible change, which is exhibited in the current presidency of Barack Obama.

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When Booker T. Washington stepped to the podium at the Atlanta Exposition in 1895 to give a speech on race relations, two things happened.

First, many fellow Black Americans, including W.E.B. Du Bois, derided his speech as “The Atlanta Compromise,” because Washington called the agitation for social equality “the extremest folly,” advocating instead slow, steady, and segregated self-improvement for the American Negro.

Second, Booker T. Washington’s was acclaimed by the white power structure, and his less threatening approach to progress proclaimed in the press. Washington himself was elevated to the status of the pre-eminent “Negro leader,” at least in the eyes of white folks. Washington alone had access to the ears and pockets of millionaires like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. Washington alone received an invitation to Teddy Roosevelt’s White House in 1901.

His debate with Du Bois — who called Washington “The Great Accommodator” — has been simplified to one of segregation versus integration. But Washington secretly contributed to anti-segregationist causes, all the while publically advocating an industrial education for Negroes, rather than the liberal arts education that Du Bois favored. Most notably, Booker T. Washington, who was born a slave, went on to found the Tuskeegee Institute, one of the first historically black colleges.

Washington was not a radical, and he caught hell from activists who wanted to move faster. In our time, Barack Obama’s moderate policies, his willingness to meet with his political adversaries, and his advocacy of Black self-reliance rankles many liberals and older Black leaders. As such, Obama and Booker T. Washington share a legacy of both personal achievement in the face of past adversity; and, in some ways, prudent accommodation with the larger power structure.

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I’m willing to bet Aretha Franklin is actually more tired of seeing and hearing about her now-famous Inauguration hat than we are. After all, homegirl was really just trying to keep her head warm in a stylish manner. But apparently it’s following her everywhere she goes – even her birthday!

That’s right, the singer celebrated her 67th birthday with a cake made out of – you guessed it – that damn Luke Song bow hat. I wonder when she’s finally going to say, “ENOUGH!”

Are you as tired of seeing her hat as I am? Either way, happy birthday, Aretha!

Here‘s what Aretha herself has to say about the whole craze.

In fact, the hat has gotten so popular, even the SMITHSONIAN wants it!

The Queen of Soul went on NPR to speak about Women’s History Month, her inauguration performance and the infamous hat she wore on that day.

Click here to listen!

Read more about The Smithsonian wanting Aretha’s hat here!

Find out just how in demand Aretha’s hat was after President Obama’s inauguration here!

Church ladies everywhere, rejoice – Ms. Franklin’s bow headcover is about to go down in history, if she grants the Smithsonian permission to take her now iconic hat off her hands.

Says People.com,

Michelle Obama’s now-famous Jason Wu gown isn’t the only piece of Inaugural fashion that is headed for the Smithsonian. The museum is also requesting the now-iconic hat that Aretha Franklin wore while singing at the swearing-in. Aretha, however, is still undecided about parting with her Luke Song-designed hat. “I am considering it. It would be hard to part with my chapeau since it was such a crowning moment in history,” says the Queen of Soul. “I would like to smile every time I look back at it and remember what a great moment it was in American and African-American history. Ten cheers for President Obama.”

Aretha was probably thinking, “damn… I was just trying to keep my ears warm!” Props to her for keeping it church-y.

Do you think Aretha should give it up? Let us know!

SERIOUSLY?!

It looks like we’re gonna have to quit clowning the Queen’s hat over here, since it’s apparently the hottest shit on the block these days.

We mentioned last week that calls were pouring in for Franklin’s custom-made hat by Luke Song of Mr. Song Millinery, but after selling thousands (THOUSANDS!) of this glittery lid, Song has decided to create a Queen-inspired collection of 12 hats in various colors and bow sizes.

We’re not kidding.

Says People,

While Aretha’s hat was a customized version, Song will be responding to demand by producing a collection of 12 hats in a variety of colors and bow sizes, priced from $150-$220. The Aretha-inspired collection will be shown during February’s Women’s Wear in Nevada trade show in Las Vegas. The company sells its hats in over 500 U.S. stores. and while they usually doesn’t name their toppers, this collection will be named after the singer herself.

Want one of your own? Go to mrsongmillinery.com to order.

After criticizing the First Lady for not wearing an African-American designer during any of the inaugural festivities, the co-founder of Black Artists Association, Amnau Eele has received death threats.

According to WWD, Black Artists Association co-founder Amnau Eele has received death threats in response to her public criticism of Michelle Obama for not wearing an African-American designer to the inauguration.

She told the magazine, “We don’t represent designers, we represent painters. We spoke up for black designers because we felt it was the right thing to do.”

Eele is planning a forum on African-American designers and their careers in New York next month.

[From Essence.com]

Legendary soul singer Aretha Franklin did more for President Obama than just sing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” during the inauguration. Franklin gave President Obama a blue box during the festivities. We’ve just learned that inside the box were 17 sermons by her father, the Reverend Dr. C.L. Franklin, who preached for 38 years at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit. She also gave him an autographed copy of Dr. Franklin’s biography, “Singing in a Strange Land” by Nick Salvatore and a small Bible engraved with a personal message.

The Queen of Soul didn’t forget about the First Lady. She presented her with a gold brooch with white diamonds while her 15-year-old grandson gave Sasha and Malia a collection of Gospel/Christian Hip-Hop music.

[From Wall Street Journal]

It’s not just fashion followers who want Michelle Obama’s clothes – now that she’s moved into the White House, the Smithsonian wants at her wardrobe, too.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History this week begins collecting Obama items for its “First Ladies at the Smithsonian” permanent exhibition and is sending a letter to Mrs. Obama requesting both her Isabel Toledo and Jason Wu outfits from Inauguration Day – for starters. The museum’s collection of first lady paraphernalia includes inauguration day ballgowns, White House china, portraits and personal possessions such as hats or fans of first ladies ranging from Martha Washington to Laura Bush.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

Though most know her as our new First Lady, it’s not just her social status that might make Michelle Obama Vogue‘s new cover girl – she’s also one of the most fashionable First Gals we’ve seen in years!

Says the Huffington Post,

Speaking of the new administration, it appears Vogue has finally landed First Lady Michelle Obama for a cover — and it could be out in the next few weeks. Thank Obama’s hairdresser for confirming the news: Frederic Fekkai stylist Johnny Wright this week inked a deal with television production company 44 Blue, which produces reality shows such as Style Network’s “Split Ends.” The news reports on the deal said Wright “has styled the First Lady’s coif for the Democratic National Convention, her upcoming appearance on the cover of Vogue magazine and other occasions.” Really? An e-mail to Wright’s publicist went unreturned. A Vogue spokesman stayed on script about whether Michelle Obama will make a cover appearance, saying simply, “We’re very interested in working with the First Lady.”

Do you think Michelle deserves a spot on the cover of the most popular high-fashion glossy in the world? Let us know! That would definitely be one Vogue issue we’re framing.

Check out who was on the scene.

Note: Rumor has it that Michelle Obama that for her inagural ball gown she’s selected designer Narciso Rodriguez.

Ever since Barack Obama won the 2008 Presidential election, designers everywhere have been submitting their sketches for what they think the first family should don for the Inaugural Ball. So what will Michelle choose for herself and the girls?

Women’s Wear Daily has a great online gallery of all the designer submissions so far. Take a look here, then tell us what your favorite sketch is!

If you plan on celebrating this historic event from the comfort of your own home, here are some drink recipes to get the party going.

Celebrate Obama’s Hawaiian heritage with this Blue Hawaiian Cocktail:

- 1 oz Light Rum
- 1 oz Blue Curacao
- 2 oz Pineapple Juice
- 1 oz Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut
- 1 cup ice
Garnish: Cherry, Pineapple
Glassware: Highball Glass

Mix all the ingredients with 1 cup ice in a blender at high speed. Strain into a highball glass and garnish with fruits.

Swear In Obama With a Hennessy 44 Bottle

This collector-edition, individually numbered bottle will further cement Hennessy’s roots in the urban community, with a percentage of proceeds being donated to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to help enable America’s next generation of leaders. You can purchase a bottle in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Illinois, New York City, and Georgia for just $30 dollars.

So, we all know that this year’s Inauguration is a pretty big deal. Millions of people are coming from across the country to celebrate this momentous occasion, but can you imagine how many fashion casualties there are going to be due to the stilettos, club dresses, and over-done hairdos that are SURE to make an appearance?

Huffington Post’s Karen Tanabe hit the nail on the head when it came to this issue. Check out part of the article below.

What to wear to the momentous inauguration of our 44th president? Sure, it’s one of the most historic days in the chronicle of our great nation and a sizable slice of our country is more excited about this than they were about their own weddings, but no pressure at all! On January 20th, all eyes will be on fashionably-challenged Washington, and this time they won’t be crying over four more years of string ties and Stetsons.

If you are completely unhinged like myself, and have decided that this groundbreaking swearing-in ceremony cannot happen without your presence, then get ready to look uglier than you ever have before. The weather will most likely be cold enough for us to channel Brian Boitano and ice skate our way to the national mall, and the population of our capital city will be six times what it should be, making it possible for you to relive your days sweating in a mosh pit to the relaxing sounds of Megadeth.

So what does one wear to be sandwiched between total strangers for hours while craning your neck to see a Jumbotron in sub-zero weather? Clothing you never want to see again. Don’t mind if a reveler accidentally flambés your parka? Then by all means wear it. And then throw another one on top for good measure. Spent your entire month’s salary on stilettos so fabulous you had them sewn to your feet? It’s time to cut them off and wear the sensible shoes favored by nuns and your Aunt Mildred.

So what do YOU think is the best thing to wear to Inauguration? Let us know!

One of the greatest historical events this country has seen is going to be one big damn party.

The Presidential Inaugural Committee has confirmed that Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, and Bruce Springsteen, among others, will be performing during the opening ceremony on Sunday, January 19 at the Lincoln Memorial. Among those reading historical passages will be Queen Latifah, Denzel Washington, and Martin Luther King III.

For those who can’t make it to the event, HBO will be televising it.

We’ll be there – will you? If so, take pics!

Hudson’s rep told “Access Hollywood,” “there is no truth to this.” We wonder if Beyonce will take her place instead.

With the inauguration just a week away, thousands of participants took part in a mock swearing-in ceremony for the 44th US President, Barack Obama.

Here are some pics from the mock ceremony.

Everyone’s trying to make it to DC for this year’s Inaugural Ball, but many have become sorely disappointed upon finding out how expensive tickets and traveling fees actually are. So VA businessman Earl Stafford decided to help out hundreds of needy Obama fans – by paying their way to Inauguration 2008!

Through his family’s nonprofit organization, The Stafford Foundation, the People’s Inaugural Project is working toward raising $1 million to grant terminally ill patients, poverty-stricken individuals, and wounded individuals in uniform the chance to attend this year’s Inauguration free of charge.

The package includes luxury hotel rooms, food and drink, a prime parade-viewing spot, outfits for the ball, and a beautician to get everyone prepped for the big day.

Stafford, who says he was “inspired to do this by the Lord,” hopes that individuals will make note of such an immense deed and pay it forward with their own acts of charity.

You can read the rest of the story at CNN.com.