Book review: Madam C.J. Walker's Gospel of Giving

Madam C.J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving

Black Women’s Philanthropy during Jim Crow

By Tyrone McKinley Freeman, University of Illinois Press, 2020

Self Made, the Netflix miniseries (2020), tells the story of Madam C.J. Walker, the first African American self-made millionaire. Walker was also the first self-made female millionaire, in contrast to women who inherited or married into money. Neither description does her justice. Self Made documents her business but not her giving.

Madam C.J. Walker was a philanthropist. This book explodes the narrow definition of philanthropy as something only rich white people do.

“I am unlike your white friends who have waited until they were rich and then help but have in proportion to my success, I have reached out and am helping others.” Madam C.J. Walker.[1] So begins this excellent book on Madam C.J. Walker’s life of generosity.

Before Oprah, there was Madam C.J. Walker.

Walker was born in 1867 on a cotton plantation in Louisiana. Poor, black, female, widowed young with a daughter to support. Her first job was as a washerwoman, before this task was automated – think boiling pots of water, nasty chemicals and back-breaking labour - a horrendous yet common occupation for black women, given the very few options available.

Walker developed a beauty culture and hair care product empire, using the name and initials of her third husband. She was generous throughout her life, long before she was wealthy, and her active, empowering generosity went far beyond money. It’s her Gospel of Giving and her many means of giving I want to focus on in this review.

Gospel of Giving: Philanthropy does not originate in wealth

Walker’s Gospel of Giving[2] was

1.       give as you can to be helpful to others

2.       spare no useful means that may be helpful to others

3.       give more as your means increase to help others

Walker and her daughter were helped by the social services of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church and she supported it throughout her life. The AME church presented an aspirational narrative for blacks living in a hostile system that sought to demean them. Social services were often denied to blacks; the church provided a means of self-help, education and property ownership for its members. In the AME tradition, giving to the poor is normative for those who follow Jesus Christ.[3] Many traditions claim this too, but the AME church walks the talk.

In this tradition, philanthropy does not originate in wealth,[4] but in “resourceful efforts to meet social needs” in overwhelming circumstances. Washerwoman organized societies to demand better pay and working conditions, and to pay funeral expenses.[5] Such co-operation empowered them to work for political change.

Archives document the powerful which is why this is such an important book, as the subtitle of Black Women’s Philanthropy during Jim Crow emphasizes. Philanthropy framed as white donors and black recipients in a hierarchical relationship distorts generosity. Walker was both a recipient and donor: Generosity depends on your willingness to give, not your wealth.[6]

Five types of Giving

Freeman structures the book around five types of gifts: opportunity, education, activism, material resources, and legacy.

·       Opportunity: Walker Beauty Culturists had organized clubs, meetings, and conferences. The company created community leaders. She developed pride and agency in thousands of black women.

·       Education: beauty schools provided educational opportunities to create financial independence. Walker also supported many schools and scholarships.

·       Activism: she hosted events for black suffragists. She sought to influence treatment of black soldiers during WWI, and countless more activities.

·       Material resources: she regularly gave baskets of food to a home for elderly black women. She made steady small gifts of money to local organizations, rather than overwhelming them with one large gift.

·       Legacy: in her will she made a large gift to the anti-lynching fund of the NAACP and to the Indianapolis YMCA, as well as many other gifts to a variety of people and causes, particularly causes that supported women, children and education.

Agency and Consistency

I am struck by how Walker’s generosity empowered others. Agency. She worked for social change, dignity, and empowerment. Scholar Darlene Clark Hine describes black women’s philanthropy as reclaiming “downtrodden black individuals as agents in their own lives and in the large ongoing struggle for freedom.”[7]

As the opening quote reminds us, Walker and other black female philanthropists didn’t help only when they had free time or extra money; they always helped. Consistency. Walker was consistent in her giving, from when she had little to when she was wealthy.

Walker provides an excellent role model for generosity and breaks out of the narrow definition that philanthropy is something rich white people do. I’m grateful to Tyrone McKinley Freeman for telling her story so well.

There’s much I haven’t covered from this important book.  For more information or to buy a copy, please visit https://gospelofgiving.com/

[1] Madam Walker to Booker T Washington, May 5, 1914, in the Booker T. Washington Papers, ed. Louis Harlan and Raymond Smock (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984 10 13:14.

[2] p. 37 I am using an ebook edition of Freeman’s book, references may not translate to other editions.

[3] p. 124.

[4] p.30.

[5] p. 93.

[6] p. 109.

[7] p. 57.