Challenge: born to parents fresh out of slavery, washerwoman scrubbing floors, hair falling out in clumps from scalp disease, no doctor, no money, no mercy.
Accountable: didn’t wait for help. Mixed her own cure in a washtub, tested it on her own head, sold it from a basket. Every jar that broke her heart was hers to remake.
Assimilated: turned that basket into factories, that cure into an empire—first self-made woman millionaire. Black women weren’t just customers, they were agents, bosses, owners.
Allegiance: gave to Black colleges, orphanages, the NAACP—she said, “I’m not just rich, I’m responsible.”
Permanent: the work never let up. From dawn to dark, from kitchen to boardroom.
Prudent: every dime counted, every cent reinvested.
Pragmatic: built a system—train ’em, trust ’em, let ’em run.
Lemons: poverty, sickness, a system built to keep her small.
What she made: dignity sold in a bottle.
Read: On Her Own Ground by A’Lelia Bundles—her great-great-granddaughter tells it clean.
Grateful Immigrant 