Was Madam Walker the first self-made American woman millionaire? Was she the first African American millionaire?
Madam Walker has been listed in past editions of the Guinness Book of World Records as the first self-made American woman millionaire, who neither inherited her money or married someone who was a millionaire. While it is impossible to document with a certainty that this is the case, at the time of her death Madam Walker’s estate had an estimated value of $600,000 to $700,000 (equivalent to approximately $6 million to $7 million in today’s dollars). The total sales of her company, the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, during the final year of her life reached more than $500,000, making the value of her company several times that amount. The combination of her personal assets (real estate, furnishings, jewelry, etc.) and the value of her business was well over $1,000,000. It is important to note that other wealthy African Americans—including Robert R. Church, Sr. (1839) of Memphis , Mary Ellen Pleasants (1814-1903) of San Francisco , Biddy Mason (1818-1891) of Los Angeles and Ann
