The Black Rose: The Dramatic Story of Madam C.J. Walker, America's First Black Female Millionaire

Orphaned at a tender age, Walker spent many years toiling and barely making ends meet as a washerwoman in Vicksburg, Mississippi. With a great deal of determination (and a bit of scientific experimentation), in the early 1900s she devised a ground-breaking hair treatment and technique for Black women that not only made her America's first Black female millionaire, but positively changed the lives and finances of countless other women who became company representatives.

Though Due reminds us that this is a work of fiction, with some sequential modifications and character amalgamations, I had to remind myself that it was historical fiction and not a narrative nonfiction. It is very well researched and has given me a glimpse into a show more historical figure previously unknown to me, for which I am always grateful. The edition I read had such tiny print that it at first made progress feel pretty slow-going, but once Walker's story really got under way it was no longer noticeable. Just one minor quibble with respect to timeline: I feel somewhat confident that there were no plastic salon capes in 1909! show less

Historical fiction based on the first black female millionaire, Sarah Breedlove Walker. She created hair products for black women.
Her story is amazing and though the author does take some liberties, she explains where and how and it doesn't take away from the story.

A sharecropper’s daughter became America's first black female millionaire. The story was researched and outlined by Alex Haley before his death, and Tananarive Due completed it.