Hidden Figures: A'Lelia Walker #BlackHERstoryMonth 26/29 (Patreon)

Hidden Figures: A'Lelia Walker #BlackHERstoryMonth 26/29

A'Lelia Walker was born Lelia McWilliams in Vicksburg, Mississippi on June 6, 1885, the daughter of Moses McWilliams and Sarah Breedlove, who would later be known as Madam C. J. Walker and the first self made Black millionaire. Her father died when she was 2, and her mother later married Charles Joseph Walker, a newspaper advertising salesman. A'Lelia grew up in St. Louis, Missouri in the same neighborhood as famous black American musician Scott Joplin, writer of the entertainer, and she attended Knoxville College in Tennessee before entering the family business as an independent hairdresser and retailer of cosmetic creams. A'Lelia Walker became president of her mother's company in 1919 and remained in that position until her death in August 1931. She initiated a number of successful marketing campaigns to promote the company, and remained the face of the Walker Company after her mother's death. During the 1920s, A'Lelia Walker immersed herself in Harlem's dynamic social life as a patron of the arts and hostess of some of the eras most notable social gatherings. She hosted many musicians, actors, writers, artists, political figures and socialites in the family mansion at 108-110 West 136th Street near Lenox Avenue. In October 1927, she converted a floor of the home into ‘The Dark Tower,’ a cultural salon that became legendary as one of the gathering places of the era, a place where Harlem's talented artists socialized with their Greenwich Village counterparts as well as European and African royalty. A’Lelia also entertained at Villa Lewaro, another mansion property and ‘country home’ in Westchester County named for her initials, and at a pied-a-Terre apartment she owned on Edgecombe Avenue in Harlem. Across her numerous properties, she threw elegant soirées for all that were also known as one of the few spaces open to Black queer people. This contributed to luring luminaries into Harlem to participate in the Harlem Renaissance; she gained a reputation amongst artists and intellectuals for her open door policy and ‘mixed’ parties of all genders and sexualities, where everyone who was anyone attended, dining on decadent meals, drinking the most expensive champagne, and reveling in such luxurious decorations as Persian carpets and fine paintings. As an heiress, Black socialite, and dedicated patron of the Harlem Renaissance, A’Lelia was known for creating spaces for Black artists and intellectuals to meet and mingle. She was called “The Joy Goddess” by writer Langston Hughes, who also wrote in his autobiography that “...her parties were filled with guests whose names would turn any social climber green with envy." Unfortunately, the Walker Company sales began to suffer in 1929, with the beginning of the Great Depression along with increased expenditures after opening a new million dollar headquarters and manufacturing facility opened in late 1927. Despite ceasing her parties and selling valuable property, art and antiques, the company continued to decline, and just a few short years later, A'Lelia Walker died on August 17, 1931 of a cerebral hemorrhage brought on by hypertension. Thousands of Harlemites and respected Black figures attended her funeral. History as been unkind to A’Lelia Walker, who has often been written about as nothing more than a frivolous party girl who wasted her mother’s money. Yet her great-granddaughter, who is also named A’Lelia, said about her: “These parties had all the artists, musicians, writers, actors who were part of the Harlem Renaissance, but it was also the newspaper publishers, the Civil Rights leaders—everybody, at some point. She provided a central location for the Harlem Renaissance.” ****************** 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: 'Remembering A'Lelia Walker, Who Made A Ritzy Space For Harlem's Queer Black Artists:' https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/09/22/436344078/remembering-alelia-walker-who-made-a-ritzy-space-for-harlems-queer-black-artists 'Rebels of Black History: How 'Joy Goddess' A'Lelia Walker Created Revolutionary Spaces for the Artistic and the Sensual:' https://www.theroot.com/rebels-of-black-history-how-joy-goddess-alelia-walker-1841674535 A'Lelia Walker (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%27Lelia_Walker