Madam C.J. Walker looms large among African American pioneers. She was a sharp businesswoman in the late 1800s and early 1900s, becoming the country’s first self-made female millionaire after turning her hair-care company into an empire—employing up to 20,000 sales agents and opening an eponymous manufacturing company in Indianapolis in 1910. In the new Netflix miniseries Self Made, Walker’s come-up gets the glossy TV treatment, though the series stops short of diving into the fate of the company after Walker died in 1919. (The series also includes some disappointing historical inaccuracies, for what it’s worth.)
So, what did happen to the sprawling company she built from scratch? Walker’s daughter, A’Lelia Walker, eventually took over as president, though she herself would be remembered less for her business acumen and more for her legendary parties and philanthropic work. Still, the company carried on after A’Lelia’s death in 1931, continuing for decades until it eventually closed in 1981. The building where the company was housed has since become a designated historical landmark and has been renamed the Madam Walker Legacy Center.
Over the years, the center’s theater has hosted performances by legends like Nat King Cole, Lena Horne, and Ella Fitzgerald, among others. It’s just one of many ways Madam C.J. Walker is remembered in the city: Curious admirers can also see dozens of items that belonged to her, like books and photographs, at the Indiana Historical Society, or check out an art installation in Walker’s likeness by sculptor Sonya Clark at the Alexander Hotel.
But though the doors of her manufacturing company have long since shuttered, Madam C.J. Walker’s original brand still lives on. In 2013, Sundial Brands—the company that owns popular hair-care labels like Shea Moisture—purchased Madam C.J. Walker Enterprises. With the blessing of Walker’s great-great-granddaughter A’Lelia Bundles, who wrote the book upon which Self Made is based, Sundial relaunched the brand as Madam C.J. Walker Beauty Culture, selling items like shampoos, conditioners, and hair masks exclusively at Sephora; the products are still available today.
Sundial cofounder Richelieu Dennis has also sought to extend Walker’s legacy, purchasing her historic Irvington, New York, estate Villa Lewaro in 2018, with the goal of turning the 28,000-square-foot, 34-room home into a think tank for black female entrepreneurs.
“We haven’t had a concentrated, intellectual effort focused on the issues that women of color face when trying to build their businesses,” he told ABC. The think tank would offer budding entrepreneurs access to capital, career experts, and a support system in order to launch their respective businesses. The program does not yet have a start date, but Dennis says he hopes to have it open within the next five years.
“I think she hoped this house would still be standing,” Bundles told ABC of her great-great-grandmother. “But I don’t know that she could have imagined the amazing things that are getting ready to happen here.”
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