District Deputy of the Madame C.J. Walker Temple Myrtle Wyche, far right, and Dorothy Carradine with the Madison Parish Historical Society look over photographs of Walker and some of her inventions at Delta City Hall Friday. (The Vicksburg Post/MELANIE DUNCAN)

[05/29/01] DELTA, La. Some people laughed at Madam C.J. Walker when she tried to concoct her first batch of hair treatment for black women.

But nobody so much as snickered at her accomplishments Friday at Delta City Hall, where a public program celebrated Walker as historical proof that no-stoplight Mississippi River villages can produce successful people.

Walker, born Sarah Breedlove to former slaves in Delta in 1867, parlayed a small line of cosmetics and hair-care products into a national business empire that employed almost 20,000 sales people by the time of its founder’s death in New York City in 1919.

Today, Walker’s face adorns the walls of many museums as well as a stamp that the U.S. Post Office started issuing in 1998.

“You can come from any place and still be somebody. Our kids need to know that,” said Tallulah Mayor Theodore Lindsey, who made Friday Madam C.J. Walker Day in his city. Delta Mayor Robert Ott issued a similar proclamation.

The recognition of Walker in her native parish is part of a statewide publicity campaign by Baton Rouge civil rights activist Blanche Baylock, who operates a traveling black history museum. Baylock said she also plans to ask Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster to name a state holiday in Walker’s honor.

She said Walker’s story should inspire any self-employed female, black or white.

According to Baylock, Walker faced down male opponents who either doubted or resented her business acumen.

“It’s a story of failure and success that gives us a reason to stick it out,” Baylock said. “Peace comes over me every time I start talking about her.”

Baylock also praised Walker as a pioneer of economic equality for blacks and women. The cosmetics sales jobs she provided were welcome alternatives to lives of domestic work or sharecropping, Baylock said.

“Madam Walker wanted the best for herself, and she wanted everybody who worked for her to have the best,” Baylock said.

Eighty-two years after Walker’s death, women like Tallulah Mayor’s Court Judge Alwine Ragland have been able to succeed as professionals. But Ragland, a member of the board of the Madison Parish Historical Society who spoke at City Hall on Friday, said she encountered some of the same sexist obstacles faced by Walker.

“We should always remember the story of Madam C.J. Walker,” Ragland said. “We should not let it fade away.”

Walker’s influence hasn’t yet faded away in the world of black hair care, said beautician Helen Williams of Tallulah.

Williams, a member of the Elks Lodge’s Madam C.J. Walker Temple in Tallulah, said Walker’s techniques were taught when she attended beauty school in Jackson in the late 1950s. Though her scalp treatments have since lost ground to more recent ones, Williams said Walker formulas can still be found in African-American beauty parlors.

And Walker’s life story is still well-known among beauticians, Williams said.

“She’s not forgotten,” Williams said. “We all want to be like her.”