XX Factor | Madam C.J. Walker | 2
American Innovations
Audible
4.6 • 4.1K Ratings
🗓️ 21 March 2019
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The first self-made female African American millionaire is how she’s known. But Madam C.J. Walker’s story is much more than a rags to riches tale of a cosmetics industry mogul. She was an inventor, an entrepreneur, and a philanthropist. Along the way, she faced challenges from inside her own community and found a way to transform them into successes.
Part of a special series with Smithsonian Magazine highlighting the lives of women inventors to celebrate Women’s History Month. Head over to Smithsonian.com/Wondery to go deeper, or find us on Twitter @InnovationsPod.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to American innovations, add free on Amazon Music, download |
| 0:06.0 | the app today. |
| 0:15.2 | It's past midnight in 1894 in St. Louis, Missouri. |
| 0:20.2 | Only three months have passed since Sarah Davis married her second husband, John, but she's |
| 0:24.9 | already regretting it. |
| 0:27.0 | We'd hope that he would help support her and her nine-year-old daughter, Lillia. |
| 0:31.8 | But now it's clear that she's going to have to keep washing clothes to support herself, |
| 0:36.2 | her daughter, and now him too. |
| 0:39.4 | As Lillia snores in the next room, Sarah paces back and forth across her bedroom floor, |
| 0:45.3 | waiting for John to come home. |
| 0:47.6 | She suspects he's been seeing other women. |
| 0:51.0 | Sarah hears the door unlock and the clunky sound of footsteps coming toward the bedroom. |
| 0:56.3 | The door opens and John appears, holding a half-empty beer bottle. |
| 1:01.2 | He takes a loud swig of his drink. |
| 1:03.4 | It's well past midnight. |
| 1:05.2 | Where have you been? |
| 1:06.2 | Out with some friends? |
| 1:07.6 | Friends. |
| 1:08.6 | You mean Susie. |
| 1:09.6 | So what if I have? |
| 1:10.6 | Bet you gave her half of this week's wages too. |
| 1:13.5 | So what if I did? |
... |
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