A new book, award-winning journalist and historian Aelelia Bundles, brings to life one of the most fascinating and misunderstood figures of the early 20th century.

Alelia Walker, daughter of Madame C.J. Walker and heiress to a beauty empire, was more than a glamorous socialite.

She was a cultural catalyst whose salons and suarez became the vibrant center of the Harlem Renaissance.

Drawing on meticulous research and rare family archives, Bundles, who is Madam Walker's

great-great-granddaughter, offers a vivid portrait filled with music, arts, politics, and joy.

I spoke with her about the book Joy Goddess, Aelelia Walker, and the Renaissance. Aliliah Bindles, welcome to the NewsHour. Delighted to be with you, Jeff. It's great to have you here. You have spent decades preserving the legacy of your great-great-grandmother, Madam C.J. Walker. You've written four books about her. What made you shift your focus to her daughter, Alilia Walker? You know, I really wanted

to write about Alia Walker first. I wrote about her for a report in high school in 1970. And she

fascinated me because she knew about all of the Harlem Renaissance actors and writers who I loved

learning about, but Madam Walker's story really had to be told first.

And it strikes me, there are scholars who have dismissed her as a socialite who played bridge,

who did little more than spend the money that her mother made. What did you discover about her

as you did the research? Really, she had been caricatured, And what I discovered was a really charismatic woman, one of the original influencers, I think a social

impresario, who walked into a room with all of her charisma, and I think who had a gift for

bringing people together.

She could bring together her friends from downtown, her friends

from uptown, her European friends, her African friends, people who were in the arts, people

who were in business. And there were very few people who both had that circle of friends

and who had the personality to carry it off. Well, you write in the book that she was the woman Harlem needed.

She was stylish.

She was ambitious.

She was unapologetically herself.

How did her persona and public image influence how many black women saw themselves during that time?

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