Madam C. J. Walker's Gospel of Giving

Madame C. J. Walker. Philanthropist, visionary, social and political activist, entrepreneur and America’s first, self-made female millionaire describe the dimensions of this generous woman. She understood the landscape of a widowed, poor, young, struggling woman in the Jim Crow south and set forth to advance the opportunities not only for herself but all black women.
Giving locally, regionally, nationally and internationally she created opportunities, beauty schools and beauty products. Running a network of schools, she had 20,000 agents proving that financial success was for blacks and whites. Whether it be the NAACP, the National Association of Colored Women, anti-lynching programs or the first black YMCA, she simply gave from what she had to advance the social services and education of African Americans. She devoted her life to meet the needs of the black community that were frequently ignored. She was the American dream of personal success from which she planted seeds so others can grow toward the sun and make bright futures for themselves.
This read, especially effective and inspiring through today’s challenges is an example of the power of unity and community. You cannot read this book without being moved or in awe of the power of the human spirit.
Thank you NetGalley and the University of Illinois Press for an ARC of this book and Tyrone McKinley Freeman for it’s uplifting message.

This book was indepthly written and a lot of research was done to make this happen especially over ten years. The author Tyrone McKinle Freeman Talked with the Madam C J Walkers Great great granddaughter and also worked on doing detailed historical reasearch. It is great to get different viewpoints for this book I believe the copy I got was an Advance proof.

Madam Walker broke historic boundaries such as living as a successful business women in what was deemed exclusive rich white neighboorhoods. While promoting herself as a black haircare specialist especially during racial divisions in her field and found large success and helped many other women train in that field. She decided to be an philanthropic person and promote the underprivileged person especially of color that happened to be overlook due to money circumstances. She also had a diverse portfolio of philanthropic societies including orphanages and churches.She also was an outgoing spokes person about black civil rights .

Trying to be a pronate businesswomen and philanthropist as a women to make sure other voices can be heard and not just white male was hard. Especially being a black women that was in the millions of dollar quota helping out other women. She used her influence and smarts to help other black women to become independent and self reliant. Especially when a time women should stay home and take care of the children. She was able to try to fix the very unequal times. May not be in the households or voting yet but at least it gave women chance to be their own independent selves.

She was also known as the The first self made female millionare and in exchange she pointed out the plight of the poor. She is a hero among champions also her hair products not with the same exact name today are still being used!

This book was amazing and also social politically contemporary. Thank you net galley and kudos to all the hard work that was put into this.

You may have seen the inspiring and powerful story of Madam C. J. Walker on Netflix. The series depicts her journey from being born to freed slaves to becoming the first woman, and first African American self-made millionaire.
This book digs deeper than the show and presents an in-depth look at her “Gospel of Giving”, “Black Women’s Philanthropy during Jim Crow”.

Generosity brings hope, both to the giver and the receiver and this is the lesson of Madam C. J. Walker. She was greatly influenced by her AME church family, particularly the women’s groups, to begin sharing in her early years, with small gifts. She continued to give throughout her life, through her beauty business by training, educating, employing and empowering black women at a time when it was difficult for African American women to find employment. She also gave monetary gifts to the NAACP, anti-lynching programs, schools, the first black YMCA and many other institutions.

Giving brought joy to Madam C. J. Walker. So did the opportunity to be a “race lifter”, by reinforcing black potential and leadership. A lowly washer woman, she achieved worldly success, while always following her “gospel of giving”.

I found this book to be interesting and I learned a great deal. The book is presented as scholarly research, which is important. We can learn about the horrors of Jim Crow, the development of African American business and philanthropy by looking at the life of Madam C. J. Walker.

Thanks to NetGalley and University of Illinois Press for an advance review copy. This is my honest review.

It is too bad I had not heard of C.J. Walker until several years ago when watching a documentary on the history of African Americans in the United States. Now, of course, with the Netflix series Self Made, more people are learning about this remarkable woman. A black woman who succeeded in the era of Jim Crow. “The first self-made female millionaire.”

Madam C. J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving is not a straight biography of Sarah Breedlove. This is an academic study of her philanthropy during her lifetime. It is the story of all women of color and their “Gospel of Giving.” What I found interesting is that the author notes that philanthropic studies were made on elite male and female models of charitable giving, and when Madam Walker is mentioned, she isn’t given her due. She is seen as a rarity, interesting yet “inconsequential.”

But as author Tyrone McKinley Freeman shows us, Madam Walker was far from the only black woman who was a philanthropist. Black women gave back, even when they had very little to themselves in the first place. Young Sarah Breedlove learned at an early age that to be helpful to others was something to be done regardless of how much money one had. Walker accumulated great wealth, but she also gave much away. Not huge endowments like Carnegie and Rockefeller, but she did her part.

This is an excellent book in encouraging the discussion of black women’s roles in the history of the United States. It’s quite scholarly at times, but there’s nothing wrong with a little learning in our adult lives, now is there?

I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Madam C. J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving will be released October 12, 2020 by the University of Illinois Press.

The Netflix mini-series on Walker' and her beauty line brought attention to this amazing life, but the series only touched the tip of the iceberg. Walker deserves to be placed alongside other greats, like Booker T. Washington, in the history books.

Against all odds, this migrant woman, with no prospects, built a beauty empire, but her philanthropy went to great extents beyond this. Her products and her clubs brought self-esteem to a down-trodden race. Her contributions to black colleges and to civil rights loom large.

Walker gave before she was wealthy, though. Her philosophy was always helping those in need, in any way that she could. Her dream of a Tuskegee in South Africa was finally brought about in another form by Oprah Winfrey, another woman of Walker's philosophy.

This work shows Walker's life against the backdrop of history. A great reference work! Kudos to Freeman.

This is a book everyone should read ! The title reveals it all. I wiil talk about the book in my classrooms and explain about the genius and empathy of Madam C.J Walker. There is only one question : why this role model is not used ? Why are we talking about heroes and not mentioning Madam Walker ? I wish I could achieve a quarter of what she did !
the book is easy to read and very well documented.
I received a copy from NetGalley, all opinions are mine.

Madam C. J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving is an academic study of her philanthropy, thoroughly documenting the origins of her philosophy of giving and grounded in history. It is the story of all Black women and their generosity in the aftermath of slavery beginning with Madam Walker's fellow washerwomen. In past philanthropic studies, Madam Walker's contributions were dismissed, but Freeman documents that as her wealth grew, Madam CJ Walker gave to the first Black YMCA, the NAACP, anti-lynching programs, schools, etc. He also corrects the record showing that many black women were philanthropists. And Black women gave even when they had little.

This kind of scholarship is overdue and Freeman's ten years of writing and research is well-spent correcting the record on Black giving. Looking forward to more from him and others.

Madame C J Walker is often cited as being the first black self-made millionaire in America having famously made her money by selling hair care products for black women. And, while her financial success remains a notable achievement at a time when Jim Crow law placed a number of obstacles in her way, it is Madame C J Walker's charitable giving that Freeman chooses to focus on in this well-argued and well-researched book.

Born Sarah Breedlove, Madame Walker was no stranger to work and poverty. Having worked as a washerwoman for years to support herself and her family, she knew what it was like to not always know where your next meal was coming from but she also knew the pride that came from making a living from your own hard work. It is this context that Freeman applies to her philanthropy. Sarah gave when she had very little to her name and Madame Walker simply upscaled that giving in line with her increased access to wealth and resources.

'Madame CJ Walker's Gospel of Giving' convincingly redefines what philanthropy meant for black people, particularly black women, stating that the objective was not to wait until you had plenty to spare before you gave but to always give even if you had very little, it was the duty of black people to help each other in an America that rarely sought to help them. Black people found their leaders and support in the church and in their wider communities becoming their own role models.

It was interesting to see that as much as Madame Walker gave, she spent extravagantly too, and that perhaps speaks to the joy she had for life so.

I knew very little about Madame Walker before reading this work but am so glad to have had the opportunity to gain some insight into her as a woman and as an entrepreneur. By the end of her life she had achieved great riches and great success but she never forgot where she came from and it was so touching to see her legacy fulfilled when almost a century after she left a direction in her will to build a school in Africa, Oprah Winfrey (a modern day equivalent of Madame CJ) did just that and built the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Henley on Klip, South Africa. As Freeman writes, Madame Walker would be smiling.

This is a very well-researched, in-depth look at Madam C.J. Walker's life and especially her role as a philanthrope. The author challenges the classic view on what philanthropy entails and very clearly explains the importance of Madam Walker's philanthropy and entrepreneurship, as well as its roots in a larger tradition of activism and social networks that existed among Black women during the Jim Crow era. This is a comprehensive scholarly study, highly-detailed, and immensely interesting.

The story of Madam C.J. Walker has been immortalised by Black Americans and people all over the world. When we hear her name we elevate her to Black Women Millionaire status.

This biography concentrates on Madam C.J. Walker as the philanthropist. There is vast information out on her and this one zeroes in with the magnifying lens as a philanthropic biography. Did she give because of her wealth? No. She was already giving even in her poverty as a washerwoman.

The book is 290 odd pages and what stands out for me is it’s impeccable research and articulate argument. Academic and biography intersect giving it a solid clear perspective.

The book opened my eyes and mind to her strategic and deliberate ways for the uplift of her family and race. Having done what she did in the suppressive era she lived in speaks of the inner grit of the woman and opportunities she chased. This gives her story so much more respect, soul and meaning.

McKinley admirably highlights not the accumulation of wealth and materialistic gain as the end prize but the process and purpose of her business, motives also for liberation and freedom for the black community.

If anything her story and how the author has placed her under the philanthropy light will make us respect the wisdom of those who have gone before us. It will inspire us to carefully and consistently live for the uplift of our communities.

She gave to individuals, she gave to institutions, she gave as an act of resistance that her soul could not be crushed.

The book gives us meat on why she pursued the passion of entrepreneurship, lives depended on it. It also creates understanding and conversation on black philanthropy.

The philanthropic perspective is a informative and inspirational reflection of Madam C.J. Walker.

A very well researched and well written book into the life of Madam C. J. Walker. It is also very detailed and gives a lot of information and the author did an amazing job with the entire book. I think the book will move you into wanting to be more giving to others and hopefully inspire people to want to do more.

Madam C J Walker was a remarkable woman who against all the odds forged a remarkably successful career as an entrepreneur and became a self-made millionaire at a time when her race and her gender were against her. This book concentrates on her philanthropy and charitable giving, and her determination to not only enjoy her wealth but to share it, an admirable impulse which I wish more millionaires would indulge in.

I liked this book on Madame CJ Walker. I also watched the Netflix movie about her life as well and it showed a lot of her philanthropy, as well. But this book showed more of her Christian life and why she wanted to help others and especially her race and African American women. During Jim Crow days, the African American struggled in a way they should never have had to. They were freed by our Republic because they should have never been, in this nation, bound in the first place. Thank God He finally made a way for us to fight along with them for their freedom. But when Abraham Lincoln was killed it caused the nation to have no leadership to carry Reconstruction of our nation, through. And so, it lead to Jim Crow days. And this book talks of how Madame CJ Walker worked through those days and brought about her own company of hair care products. And through this company she helped many women of her race by hiring them to work for her and teaching them how to use the products and how to sell them, thus helping them to own a small business of their own. She had many charities she donated to. She wanted to help her race to get ahead in these troubling times for them. She based her charity on her Christian Bible and Christian values. Very well referenced by the author.

I would like to thank Tyrone McKinley Freeman and NetGalley for an advanced copy of Madam C.J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving in exchange for an honest review. This was such a well written, well researched book. I truly loved learning about C.J. Walker’s life and the obstacles she needed to go through to reach success. This book taught me so much about her successes and also gave insight into the Black women philanthropists. I will absolutely be recommending this to others looking to learn more.

Such an interesting story, and am glad that I came across it. Recommended for history fans looking for an interesting, inspiring read.

You can tell just how much time and effort and love the author put into this book. It was so well researched and written. I could not put it down and did not want it to end. I am so glad I got to learn and read about Madam C J Walker.

What an interesting life she lead and how inspiring she was in an age where African American women were not respected or listened to. She must have been such a strong character to build her business. I love that she didn't just rest on her laurels but she she lifted other African American women to control their lives and their own destiny by empowering them to become business women. It's sad that she did not live to see her massive legacy.

The biography teaches readers about her life and her strength. It tells us about her faith and education. We learn about her work to grow a business and the ways she helped others. We learn how she inspired others and how she still is inspiring others today. This book focuses much on her Christian life as well. We see how she worked to reach her goals, but she gave back to others. She remembered Christian values. It is a well-written and detailed book. The research is well done and includes talking about Madam Walker's great-great-granddaughter. I recommend this book!