On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker
She was the daughter of slaves, married at 14, a widow with a baby  daughter at 20. But, by the time that she was 40, Madam C.J. Walker (1867-1919)  was making as much money as a white corporate executive, thanks to her popular  hair-care products for black women and her brilliance at marketing them. She  created a workforce of sales agents that gave African American women job options  other than being washerwomen or domestics. As her prominence and wealth  increased, she became a generous benefactor of black educational institutions,  and such a staunch supporter of the antilynching movement that the State  Department labeled her a "race agitator" and denied her a passport in 1919. Yet,  she had plenty of time for fun, too; she built a lavish mansion (near John D.  Rockefeller's) in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, and her daughter Lelia  entertained the Harlem Renaissance elite in a spectacular Manhattan townhouse  that was renovated with revenues from the company's New York branch. AuthorA'Lelia Bundles, a  veteran television journalist and Madam Walker's descendant, reminds us that  controversy over straightened hair has raged within the black community for a  century, and that the businesswoman insisted that her aim never was to "de-kink"  her customers' tresses, but instead to "grow" them through proper care, frequent  washing, and improved nutrition. Bundles seamlessly weaves together her  great-great-grandmother's remarkable personal odyssey with the broader outlines  of African American struggle in the early 20th century, to create a colorful  biography that's also a fascinating social history.--Wendy Smith