Atlanta museum honors the life of a trailblazing Black hair care business leader
In Atlanta's Sweet Auburn District, a museum honors a trailblazing woman who made history with her business.
Madame C.J. Walker became the first self-made female millionaire in America from her line of hair care products.
Hairstylist Ricci de Forest transformed a Madame C.J. Walker Beauty Salon into the Madame C.J. Walker Museum. The building is also home to the first Black-owned and Black-programmed radio station in America, WERD.
Inside, music, vinyl records, and pieces of Black History fill the museum.
Forest said he stumbled onto the beauty shop 30 years ago and has been fortunate enough to meet one of the salon's stylists.
"Dorothy Smart was her name. Her neighborhood name was Mother Dot. She was the last living beautician to work in Madame C.J. Walker Beauty Shop in the 1940's," Forest said.
Forest originally leased the building in 1990 to open his own salon. He served clients that included Dexter King, the son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
It was the history in the building that really inspired him.
"I was not expecting to find original beauty tools, flat irons, pressing combs," he said.
The museum has pressing combs that the stylists used.
"The original pressing comb is here, designed for White women. Look at how tight the pattern is," Forest said, pointing to one artifact.
In the early 1900s, Walker improved the pressing comb to straighten Black women's thicker hair.
"What she did was widen the tooth pattern to use on Black women's hair because that tight pattern, you can't get through a Black woman's hair," he said.
The museum is filled with items that pay homage to Walker, such as cotton and washboards.
"She was born on a cotton plantation and worked herself up to a wash woman. She went from cotton plantation to washboard to training Black women to do hair," Forest said.
"I've learned so much about her being a pioneer, her willingness to share her knowledge with other Black females so they're also able to be entrepreneurs," said volunteer Kiflyn Bagile. "Ricci makes sure this history is preserved so I can learn more. I wasn't educated so much on the struggles of Blacks."
The museum has been added to the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, a network of landmarks that played key roles in advancing social justice during the 1900s.
The museum is located at 54 Hillard Street NE and is open from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and noon to 3 p.m. on weekends. Admission is $7.
You can learn more about the museum here.