Madam Walker, as part of the first generation out of slavery, really was inventing the way that she operated in the world.
Madam Walker's legacy lives in her philanthropy as well as in an amazing line of hair care products.
The saying was that Madam Walker made the money, and her daughter - my great-grandmother - spent it.
Many people have told me that once they learn of Madam Walker's accomplishments they are surprised, even embarrassed, that they have never heard of her. But they shouldn't be. Her extraordinary story was simply omitted from the history books.
A lot of people think Oprah is channeling for Madam Walker, and there are lots of parallels.
For many years Madam Walker was just a little footnote in history. As a woman who made haircare products, she was really consigned to something trivial.
I wrote my first report about Madam Walker when I was a senior in high school in 1970.
I really only knew the name Berry Gordy growing up, but I didn't know what he looked like or anything about him.
We didn't sit around the dining table talking about Madam Walker, but the silverware that we used every day had her monogram on it and our china for special occasions had been Madam Walker's china... and the baby grand piano on which I learned to read music had been in A'Lelia Walker's apartment in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance.
There is a core of people who know and love Madam C.J. Walker, but there's a much larger audience who don't really know about her. I think 'Self Made' will give people a window into her life.
I've found that once people are introduced to Madam Walker's story, they are inspired but also perplexed about why she was omitted from their history lessons.
Madame Walker was mythologized like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, but I want to show that she was fabulous on her own.
