Annie Wood

Madam C.J. Walker 
(Sarah Breedlove)

By the age of twenty, Sarah Breedlove, who would come to be known as Madam C. J. Walker, was orphaned and widowed. She worked for years as a washerwoman to support her daughter. Inspired by a book she read (Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington), Sarah Breedlove called for black people to lift themselves by working hard and developing skills. In 1905, she changed her name to Madam C.J. Walker and invented a hair pomade and other beauty products that she marketed to black women. She was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She was considered the wealthiest African-American businesswoman and wealthiest self-made woman in America at the time of her death in 1919.

"Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come.  Get up and make them."


This full-sized mannequin is 5'8" high and stands on a metal stand. It's collaged with newspaper clippings and ads relevant to Madam C.J. Walker. I combined pearls and gold leaf around her neck, and she wears a bracelet (costume jewelry) that once belonged to my stylish mom. Fun bit of trivia: the gold leaf was a gift to me from the mayor of Rimini, Italy. He climbed up a ladder and retrieved it while he was renovating the classic theatre in Rimini for me to use it in my art. 

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