Hidden Figures: Annie Malone (Patreon)

Hidden Figures: Annie Malone

Annie Minerva Turnbo Malone (August 9, 1877 – May 10, 1957) was an African-American businesswoman, inventor and philanthropist. She was the first African American woman to be a millionaire. In the first three decades of the 20th century, she founded and developed a large and prominent commercial and educational enterprise centered on cosmetics for African-American women. While out of school, Annie grew so fascinated with hair and hair care that she often practiced hairdressing with her sister. With expertise in both chemistry and hair care, Turnbo began to develop her own hair-care products. While experimenting with hair and different hair-care products, she developed and manufactured her own line of non-damaging hair straighteners, special oils, and hair-stimulant products for African-American women. She named her new product “Wonderful Hair Grower” To promote her new product, Turnbo sold the Wonderful Hair Grower in bottles from door-to-door. Her products and sales began to revolutionize hair-care methods for all African Americans. In 1902, Turnbo moved to a thriving St. Louis, where she and three hired assistants sold her hair-care products from door-to-door. One of her selling agents, Sarah Breedlove Davis (who became known as Madam C. J. Walker when she set up her own business), operated in Denver, Colorado until a disagreement led Walker to leave the company. Ms. Walker took Annie Malone's original formula and created her own brand of it. Despite the thievery, Malone's own brand, which she named 'Poro,' was a smashing success, enabling her to become a multimillionaire and build a five-story multipurpose facility. It contained a manufacturing plant, a beauty college - which she named Poro College - a retail store where Poro products were sold, business offices, a 500-seat auditorium, dining and meeting rooms, a roof garden, dormitory, gymnasium, bakery, and chapel. While extremely wealthy, Malone lived modestly, giving thousands of dollars to the local black YMCA and the Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, DC. She also donated money to the St. Louis Colored Orphans Home, where she served as president on the board of directors from 1919 to 1943. With her help, in 1922 the Home bought a facility at 2612 Goode Avenue (which was renamed Annie Malone Drive in her honor). #AnnieMalone #HiddenFigures ****************** Merchandise! MAKE SURE U GETTA SHIRT!! https://www.teepublic.com/user/sssseren Follow me on social media! Instagram: @sensei_aishitemasu Personal Tumblr: http://sensei-aishitemasu.tumblr.com Tumblr for my work: https://sssseren.tumblr.com Snapchat: sssseren GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/tc5wh7q Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seren_sensei ****************** Did you know I wrote a book? ☺️ 'So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture' Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/About-That-Contemporary-Essays-Culture-ebook/dp/B013V0CHK6 Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013V0CHK6 Digital download (e-book): https://gumroad.com/l/IkUa ****************** Links: 'Annie Malone, businesswoman original:' https://aaregistry.org/story/annie-malone-businesswoman-original/ 'Who was Annie Malone?' https://chicagocrusader.com/who-was-annie-malone/ Celebrating Black History Month - Annie Malone: https://vedc.org/blog/celebrating-black-history-month-annie-malone Annie Malone - African-American Educator, Entrepreneur & Inventor: http://www.freemaninstitute.com/poro.htm http://www.freemaninstitute.com/Annie-PoroAd-600.jpg Annie Turnbo Malone: http://www.histarch.illinois.edu/Brooklyn/HSOBI/AnnieMalone.htm Malone, Annie Turnbo: https://blackpast.org/aah/annie-turnbo-malone-1869-1957 Annie Turnbo Malone: https://shsmo.org/historicmissourians/name/m/malone/ Annie Malone (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Malone