In the 1920s, 30s and 40s, with
the new freedom came business and financial
success for many
women in Missouri. One of the nation's wealthiest
African
Americans was Annie Malone, founder and owner of Poro
College (watch video below), a cosmetics firm
(view products below)
that
started in St. Louis and later occupied an entire city block in
Chicago.
* Annie was one of the first in Missouri to own a Rolls Royce
* Annie paid over $40,000 in taxes alone...in 1926
* Annie
owned a whole city block in Chicago
* Annie's philanthropy was
legendary
* Annie
gave diamond rings for five years of service
* Annie
gave cash awards for savings accounts & home purchases
* Annie
trained well over 75,000 women entrepreneurs
* Annie
trained Madam C.J. Walker to be a "Poro Agent"
Perhaps you have never heard of
Annie before. If not, you're
in good company.
Most everyone
reading this page has never heard of Annie.
And if you are in the African
American hair care or cosmetics industry, Annie is
the "mother" of what you are doing. You are about to meet a
remarkable woman...
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
click
>>>
OWN
a STUNNING PIECE of HISTORY<<< click
Reproduction of 1926 "Poro College in Pictures"
images not to be used without written permission of The Freeman
Institute
Acquire this reproduction of
1927 Poro College diploma...gold seal embossed with official Poro
College seal.
Every
beauty salon and barbershop needs this framed...on the wall.
A great conversation starter.
images not to be used without
written permission of The Freeman Institute
images not to be used without
written permission of The Freeman Institute
Poro College
embosser...gold seal embossed with official Poro College seal
(established 1900).
click
>>> OWN
a STUNNING PIECE of HISTORY<<< click
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
You have
heard of Oprah Winfrey? Sure, who hasn't? How about Madam C.J. Walker? No
brainer. I can see heads nodding up and down all over the
place.
How about Annie
Malone? Blank stares. Silence. Crickets chirping. Never heard of her...
Yet, before Madam Walker, Rosa Parks, Mary McLeod Bethune, Oprah Winfrey or Cathy Hughes there was Annie Turnbo Malone (aka Annie Minerva Turnbo Pope Malone and Annie
Minerva Turnbo Malone), a remarkable woman who made her
mark during the early 20th century.
image not to be used without
written permission of Freeman Institute
You may have watched the
4-episode Netflix miniseries, "Self Made", about
Madam CJ Walker (portrayed by Octavia
Spencer). I have written a response to the
portrayal of Annie Malone -- as "Addie Monroe" -- in that biopic (my
perspective is near
bottom of page).
Malone is recorded as one
of America’s first black female millionaire based on
reports about her beauty and
cosmetic enterprises -- Poro -- headquartered in St. Louis and Chicago.
--
--
ORDER
remarkable
book about Poro College and Annie Malone
Annie Minerva
Turnbo Malone was
an African-American businesswoman, educator, inventor
and philanthropist. Annie was two years younger than
Madam C. J. Walker. She had launched her hair care business
four years before Sarah Breedlove (later known as Madam C.
J. Walker). In the early 1900s Madam Walker worked as a "Poro
Agent" for Annie for about one year.
In the
first three decades of the 20th century, she founded and
developed a large and prominent commercial and educational
enterprise centered around cosmetics for African-American
women.
Annie was
born in Metropolis, Illinois to former slaves. She was the tenth of
eleven children born to Robert Turnbo, a poor farmer, and
Isabella Cook Turnbo. Because her parents died when she
was young, Annie was raised by her older sister in nearby
Peoria, Illinois. She was a sickly child and missed a lot
of school which resulted her in having to withdraw before
completing high school.
While she was coming of
age, the popular style among Black women was that of a
“straight hair” look. Black women were starting to turn their
backs on the braided cornrow styles they’d associated with the
fields of slavery and began to embrace a look which, for them
meant, freedom and progression toward equality in America.
Annie Turnbo Malone
While in Peoria, Malone
took an early interest in hair textures. In the 1890s -- being
a lover of styling hair -- Annie began to envision a way of
straightening hair without having to use the methods of old
which included using soap, goose fat, heavy oils, butter and
bacon grease or the carding combs of sheep. She’d
also witnessed method of hair straightening which employed
lye sometimes mixed with potatoes, but was turned off by the
procedure because it often resulted in damaged scalps and
broken hair follicles.
___________________________________________________________________________
Annie Malone is the "mother" of the African American
Cosmetics, Hair Care
& Beauty Industries
images not to be used without
written permission of The Freeman Institute
Coupled with the influence
of her aunt who was an herbal doctor and her knowledge of
Chemistry, Annie Turnbo developed a chemical which could be
used to straighten hair without causing damage to the hair or
scalp. By the time she was in her late 20′s, Turnbo
had developed a straightening solution which would grant her
entry into the annuals of hair care history.
By the beginning of the 1900s,
Annie Malone began to revolutionize hair care methods for all
African Americans. Armed with this revolutionary formula and a
product she called “The Great Wonderful Hair Grower,”
Annie moved to St. Louis in 1902. She hired some assistants
and began selling her products door-to-door. Word of her
products and teaching method spread like wild fire and soon
her products and her “Poro Method” of styling hair were a
success.
Malone called it Poro, a West
African (Mende) male secret or devotional society -- an organization located
throughout Liberia and Sierra Leone dedicated to
disciplining and enhancing the body spiritually and
physically. There were some elements of the term that
seem to indicate beauty. Even though it was not in vogue
during that era, Annie wanted to connect her "Poro Agents" to
their African roots and this was her way of doing that. She and her assistants sold her unique
brand of hair care products door to door.
OWN A
RARE PIECE OF HISTORY
--
ORDER
book about Poro College and Annie Malone
Malone believed that if African American
women improved their physical appearance, they would gain
greater self-respect and achieve success in other areas of
their lives.
Vintage photo of graduation class with Annie
Malone in the center (back row, with glasses) held at
Big Bethel AME Church, Atlanta. See church organ pipes in background.
By 1902, Malone's business
growth led her to St. Louis, Missouri, which at the time
held the fourth largest population of African
Americans. In St. Louis she copyrighted her Poro brand
beauty products. In 1914, in a St. Louis wedding, Malone
married the school principal (and former Bible salesman), Aaron Eugene Malone.
By 1917, as United
States entered World War I, Annie Malone had become so
successful that she founded and opened Poro College in St.
Louis (below).
A classic amateur photo of the
famous Poro College (St. Louis) in a photo album
It was the first
educational institution in the United States dedicated to the
study and teaching of black cosmetology. The school reportedly
graduated over 75,000 agents world-wide, including the
Caribbean.
The school employed nearly
200 people. Its curriculum included instructions to train
students on personal style to present themselves at work -- walking, talking and style of dress designed to maintain a
solid public persona. The Poro College building was later
purchased by St. James African Methodist Episcopal (AME)
Church and demolished in 1965 to
construct
The James House.
The Black
Philanthropist
By 1926, the college
employed 175 people. Franchised outlets in North and South
America, Africa, and the Philippines employed some 75,000
women. Malone had become a wealthy woman. The Philadelphia
Tribune reported that in 1923 Annie Malone paid the highest
income tax of any African American in the country. For
instance, her 1924 income tax payment totaled nearly
$40,000. However, despite her wealth, Malone lived
conservatively and gave away much of her fortune to help
other African Americans. She is one of America's first major
black philanthropists.
A $25,000 donation from
Malone helped build the St. Louis Colored YWCA.
From 1919 to 1943, Malone served
as board president of the St. Louis Colored Orphan's Home.
During this time she raised most of the orphanage's
construction costs. She had donated the first $10,000 to
build the orphanage's new building in 1919 (below).
With her help, in 1922 it bought a facility at 2612 Annie
Malone Drive (formally Goode Ave.) It continues to serve from the historic
Ville neighborhood. Upgraded and expanded, the facility was
renamed in her honor as the Annie Malone Children and Family
Service Center in 1946.
images not to be used without written
permission of The Freeman Institute
Malone donated large sums to
countless charities. During the 1920s, Malone's
philanthropy included financing the education of two
full-time students in every historically black college and
university in the country. Her $25,000 donation to Howard University was
among the largest gifts the university had received by a
private donor of African descent. She also contributed to
the Tuskegee Institute.
Malone was very generous
with family and employees. She educated many of her nieces
and nephews and bought homes for her brothers and sisters.
She awarded employees with lavish gifts for attendance,
punctuality, service anniversaries, and as rewards for
investing in real estate.
images not to be used without
written permission of The Freeman Institute
Malone also gave generously of her time in the community.
She was president of the Colored Women's Federated Clubs of
St. Louis, an executive committee member of the National
Negro Business League and the Commission on Interracial
Cooperation, a
lifelong Republican, and a member of the African
Methodist Episcopal Church. Annie was also an honorary
member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. -- founded
January 16, 1920 on the campus of Howard University in
Washington, D.C.
The Chuck Berry Connection
Tens of thousands of women were
trained in the Poro System, but there was also a famous
male student who was born in St. Louis in 1926. Bruce Pegg
states in his book,
“Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life and Hard Times of
Chuck Berry,” that almost every
day, as a child growing up on Goode Avenue, Chuck Berry
would have walked past the stately columns of the St.
Louis Colored Orphan’s Home (see photo above) on
the block next to the Berry family home (no longer
standing).
Chuck Berry
Later on Chuck trained as a beautician under the
Poro system, graduating in 1952. Aside from the
fact that he was following his sisters Thelma
and Lucy (who had, by that time, abandoned
their music career in favor of the less
glamorous but more stable occupation), there
was another compelling reason for Berry to
consider cosmetology as a career.
By this time, both Annie Malone and Madam C.J.
Walker had vividly shown nearly every black
community across the country, hairdressing was a
vital means to economic independence.
Frederick
Douglass, the former slave and abolitionist, had
noted the significance of the occupations to
blacks when he wrote an editorial in 1853 titled
“Learn Trades or Starve," arguing that
blacks could gain greater economic independence
if they were given the opportunity to perfect
useful skills.
One historian
stated,
“Barbershops, and beauty parlors, were independent
businesses with a steady clientele and, as such, were
important expressions of black entrepreneurial
activity.” Cutting hair and cosmetology was
recession-proof.
It was, simply, another extension of Booker
T. Washington’s philosophy of economic independence, and
as such would have been a tremendously attractive
occupation to Chuck Berry at the time. But we all know what happened
to his music career in 1958 when "Johnny B. Goode"
hit the charts.
Poro Pressing Oil
"Johnny
Be Goode" -- Ever wondered why "Goode" was spelled
that way? Since Chuck Berry lived at 2520 Goode
Street for the first 5-6 years of his life, he got the word
"Goode" from the street in St. Louis (historic Ville
neighborhood) where he grew up -- next block over from
the Orphan's Home (2612 Goode Street)
started by Annie. One can only image how many times he had
walked by the Orphan's Home in the early years of his life. In 1986 Goode
Street was renamed Annie
Malone Drive.
The Decline of
Annie's Marriage and Business
Malone's generosity
raised her stature in the community but also contributed to
the financial decline of her business. While she was
spending time on civic affairs and distributing her wealth
to various organizations, she left the day-to-day affairs of
the business in the hands of managers, including her
husband. Some of these managers were inexperienced or
dishonest, eventually leading to the dismantling of her
business empire.
images not to be used without
written permission of The Freeman Institute
For the six years leading up
to 1927, Annie and Aaron Malone became embroiled in a power
struggle over control of the Poro business. The struggle was
kept quiet until 1927, when Aaron Malone filed for divorce
and demanded half the business. He claimed that Poro's
success was due to contacts he brought to the company. He
courted black leaders and politicians who sided with him in
the highly publicized divorce.
Annie Malone's devotion
to black women and charitable institutions led Poro workers
and church leaders to support her. She also had the support
of the press and Mary McLeod Bethune, president of the
National Association of Colored Women. Having the support of
so powerful a woman helped Annie Malone prevail in the
dispute and allowed her to keep her business. She negotiated
a settlement of $200,000.
In
1930 and entering her 60s, Malone moved her business
to Chicago, where its location became known as the Poro
block. Her financial trouble continued when she
became the target of lawsuits, including one by a
former employee who claimed credit for her success.
When the suit was settled in 1937, she was
forced to sell the St. Louis property. Malone's business was
further crippled by enormous debt to the government for
unpaid real estate and excise taxes. (The federal government
required a 20 percent tax on luxuries, including hair-care
products during the 1920s.)
Poro College Diploma
In 1943, during the
middle of World War II, she owed almost $100,000 and was
served a lien by the Internal Revenue Service. After
fighting the lawsuits for eight years, she lost Poro to the
government and other creditors, who by 1951 took control of her
business enterprise -- selling off most of the holdings
to pay taxes.
She suffered financially from
the devastating
divorce (her second) and, soon thereafter, by two civil
lawsuits, all during the Great Depression. The lawsuits (for
liability to an employee and a St. Louis newspaper) partially
crippled her ability to conduct business.
ANNIE MALONE'S LEGACY: Credit Where
Credit is Due
Malone's business failure
tarnished her image. Her former employee, Madame C.J.
Walker, often overshadows Malone because Walker's business
remained successful and more widely known. Walker is often
credited as the originator of the black beauty and cosmetics
business and the direct distribution and sales agent system
that Malone developed.
Many historians believe
Malone deserves more credit for her devotion to helping
African Americans gain financial independence and her
generous donations to educational, civic, and social causes.
Vintage photo of Annie Malone
(center, front row w/ long print dress) at a 1938
graduation
held at a Baptist church in Atlanta. Annie suffered a reversal of fortunes
in the 1930s.
On May 10, 1957, Annie
Turnbo Malone (87 years of age) was treated for a stroke
at Provident Hospital in Chicago where she died. At the
time of her death Poro beauty colleges were in operation
in more than thirty U.S. cities.
HER LEGACY STILL LIVES ON: St. Louis honors her memory with the Annie Malone Children and
Family Service Center whose mission is "is to improve the
quality of life for children, families, elderly and the
community by providing social services, educational
programs, advocacy and entrepreneurship." --
ORDER
book about Poro College and Annie Malone (see more about
book just below)...
-- 1926 First Edition copy of Poro College in
Pictures. -- a short history of its development. The
48 images of the college are absolutely stunning --
costing over a million dollars to construct! The Founder &
President of Poro College was none other than Annie
Malone. Annie was the founder of hair care product line
for African Americans; developed business into the Poro
System, a network of franchised agent-operators who operated
salons under Malone's guidelines using Poro products. She
founded Poro College, 1917, in St. Louis, MO, the first
school for the training of beauty culture specialists for
African American clientele. She manufactured a line of
beauty products for black women and created a unique
distribution system that helped tens of thousands of
black women gain self respect and economic independence.
The college trained women as agents for Poro products and by
1926 claimed to have graduated some 75,000 agents
located throughout the world including the Caribbean.
However, her contributions to African American culture are
often overlooked because her business empire ultimately
collapsed. One of her students, Madame C.J. Walker,
later created a similar enterprise and is largely credited
with originating the black beauty business, a feat that
rightly belongs to Malone.
(from
Freeman Institute Black History Collection)
--
ORDER
copies here.
OWN A VINTAGE COPY OF "PORO IN PICTURES"
"Madam C.J. Walker's
Role Model" Acquire a museum-quality reproduction of the 52-page Poro
College annual
booklet (1926) online, with an astonishing picture of Poro College
on the back cover.
Great Birthday or Holiday gift!
Educational & inspirational.
Wonderful gift for a wedding, Sweet 16 party, Cotillion or
Debutante Ball.
( 52 pages, 48 photographs, 80# silk text
paper, 8.75" x 5.75" )
If you represent a fraternity, sorority, church, hair salon,
barber shop, Black History
museum or gallery, HBCU, Black Student Union, Black Chamber,
Urban League,
NAACP chapter, Blacks In Government (BIG), or some other
organization wanting
to raise funds for a certain project, ask for our quantity
discounts.
~ QUANTITY DISCOUNTS ~
for Fraternities, Sororities, beauty salons, HBCU's,
Churches or any other organizations
1-10 copies ———– $12.90 each (retail
pricing)
11-25 copies ——— $10.30 each (20% discount)
26-50 copies ——— $9.00 each (30% discount)
51-750 copies —– $7.70 each (40% discount)
751-999 copies ----- $6.45 each (50% discount)
1001+ copies —– Call for discounts (down
to 83%)
We can private-label any order over 2,500 copies
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P O R O B E A U T Y P R
O D U C T S
images not to be used without
written permission of The Freeman Institute
Freeman Institute Black History Collection
If you want more than 2,500 copies for a fundraiser, we can
private-label this book with anything you want for the
inside front (left page above) and inside back covers. The inside front cover
(empty on the left side) can be used to promote
your organization with an open letter, and there are up to four other
open pages that can naturally be used as
ad space for companies that donate money to cover the
printing/shipping costs. That way, the first book you sell will raise
funds.
EMAIL for quantity costs.
--
ORDER
book about Poro College and Annie Malone...
images not to be used without
written permission of The Freeman Institute
Freeman Institute Black History Collection
Pages from the
1926 "Poro
in Pictures" booklet depicting the Deliveries Office (upper
left), Cashiers' Department (upper right),
Instruction and Beauty Department (lower left),
and Balustrade (lower right) -- instructing in
hair and scalp culture, manicuring, facial massaging,
marcelling, hair weaving, fancy hair-dressing, and other
beauty culture subjects.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Excellent, same-day Customer Service was important to Annie
Malone. Orders for all Poro products were filled and shipped the
same day.
-- For instance, orders
received in the first morning's mail were placed in the mail
at 10:30 that same morning and order received later, but
prior to 4pm were shipped at 4:30pm.
images not to be used without
written permission of The Freeman Institute
Freeman Institute Black History Collection
Pages from the
1926 "Poro
in Pictures" booklet depicting the Lobby, with a bust
of Frederick Douglass (upper
left), Main Corridor (upper right, and
Auditorium, which seated 800 people. Marian Anderson performed in this
auditorium. _______________________________________________________________________________
Here's what Madam C. J. Walker was taught (from the
last page of "Poro in Pictures" booklet):
Poro
College is more than a mere business enterprise. Fostering
ideals of personal beauty and tidiness, self-respect, thrift
and industry, and touching the lives of millions, the
Institution is a constructive force in the development of the
Race.
Thousands of women and girls, serving as Poro Agents, are
working out their lives in a manner to them acceptable,
agreeable and profitable. Thus does the Institution make a
definite economic contribution to the negro life.
To
develop and maintain the very highest degree of proficiency,
the personnel at Poro College is organized into a welfare
association which makes for good fellowship and promotes
intelligence and spiritual growth. Every employee is a member
of this organization, "The Poro Family," the officers of which
are elected annually by the membership.
There
are nine committees: program, music, dramatic, literary,
social, house, athletic, sick and deputation, which embrace
organization activities. Each employee is assigned to one of
these committees. The committee chairmen together with the
elected corps of officers constitute the "Cabinet." The
organization pays a sick benefit.
There
is an orchestra of twenty young ladies supervised by an
experienced instructor and director, the instruments being
provided by Mrs. Malone. A group of lady employees have within
the organization, the Porette Club, the members of which do
fancy needle and other art work for charitable purposes.
tennis courts are maintained for employees.
On
Christmas Eve, Mrs. Malone presents beautiful diamond rings to
those whose fifth anniversary service with the Institution has
transpired during the year; to encourage thrift she makes cash
awards to those who have purchased homes or whose bank
accounts show substantial savings. Trips are given for
meritorious service.
Generously sharing with the public its many facilities, Poro
College -- vitalizing and humanizing -- a center of community
activity, waves aloft the standard of honest endeavor for the
public good. --
ORDER
book about Poro College and Annie Malone...
Who Created the Hot Comb? Annie
Malone or Madam Walker?
The answer
is neither. It is reported that in 1872 a hairdresser named
Marcel Grateau used a pressing comb on his clientele in
Paris, who were trying to emulate the straight style of
ancient Egyptian hair, but it’s not really known exactly who
invented the device. Annie Malone was the first to patent a
hot comb. Madame CJ Walker improved upon the comb by
widening the teeth for use on black hair.
images not to be used without
written permission of The Freeman Institute
MY RESPONSE to the PORTRAYAL
of ANNIE MALONE in "SELF MADE"
Netflix Miniseries about
Madam CJ Walker
I admire and
respect the way Madam CJ Walker used her fame and wealth to help HBCUs,
to fight lynching and to provide an entrepreneurial
system that brought financial help/hope to Black
families...in an age when the fathers of those same families
were hired last and fired first.
I am at the front
of the line, giving honor where honor is due.
However,
I have a problem with the way Annie Turnbo Malone
was portrayed in the Netflix miniseries, "Self
Made". When one embarks upon an honest inquiry into the
historical timeline around 1905/06, there is
absolutely no doubt that Annie Turnbo Malone was a
primary mentor to Sarah Breedlove (aka: Madam CJ
Walker) in St. Louis, at a time when Sarah was most
vulnerable.
A quick
look at the timing, when Annie Malone suddenly began
the legal process of patenting and trade marking all
of her intellectual property and her product line is
rather revealing. Something had happened, causing
Annie to make sure that she was legally protected.
The timing of Annie's assertive move toward legal
protection coincides with the launch of
Madam CJ Walker's business enterprise in Denver.
We all
stand in the shoulders of giants. And it is an
endearing character trait when an individual takes a
long look backwards — eyes glistening with gratitude
— at the various people who helped along the way.
A'Lelia
Bundles and the writers of the script curiously used
the name "Addie Monroe" for Annie Malone.
Why? The writers then portrayed "Addie" in the most
negative light. Why?
I
believe it was a missed opportunity in the
development of the “Self Made” miniseries. An
opportunity to bring truth...and perhaps even
generational healing...to a relationship that
obviously became fractured over time.
Rhetorical
Question: What kind of a message could have been
communicated in the Netflix miniseries if the early
connection between Annie Malone and Sarah Breedlove
had been showcased?
A tip of the hat to
Annie Malone would’ve been classy. Much classier than
creating a caricature of fictional character (supposedly
playing Annie Malone) sans character.
All people need to
understand that life can get messy. It’s part of so many
stories of great people who have accomplished much for
themselves, their families and total strangers.
Consciously
avoiding historical reality, to make one character look
better is, at once, perplexing and revealing.
Why A’Lelia Bundles
and the writers didn’t include a truthful portrayal of the
personal and business relationship between two powerful and
talented Black women is beyond me.
Once again, a
missed opportunity on so many levels. A storyline that
could’ve provided relevant wisdom for all viewers of the
Netflix miniseries.
Sarah Spencer
was born June 6, 1889 in Beckley, Virginia. She later
moved to Atlantic City and worked as a hairdresser. In
1913 she started a hairdressing business in a small
one-room beauty shop. She began to experiment with
ingredients and later was granted a patent for a new
system of straightening the hair of black women. In 1919
she founded Apex News and Hair Company. She worked in
the beauty salon during the day (and also taught
students the trade) and in the evenings sold her
cosmetics throughout the city.
By the mid-1930s the Apex Beauty Products Company was the largest
New Jersey black-owned business and one of the nation’s
leading black manufacturing companies. In addition to
the cosmetics company, she owned Apex Publishing
Company, which published Apex News for beauticians and
sales agents, Apex Laboratories, Apex Drug Company and
Apex Beauty College. 11 beauty schools in the US ad
franchised schools overseas. Apex Beauty Systems Sarah
Spencer, one of the first African American millionaires.
She was awarded a medallion at the 1939 World’s Fair as
one of the Most Distinguished Businesswomen” in the
country.
---
O P T I O N S ---
1. All-Day "Diversity Seminar" Program --
Click Here
2. "Diversity Day" Presentation or Keynote Address --
Click Here
3. "Black History" Presentation --
Click Here
4. Dr. Freeman's African American History Collection --
Click Here 5. Preview Online Diversity Course --
Click Here
Flash Player needed to Preview Courses -- Download
Flash 6. Critical Incident Debriefing --
Click Here 7. Symbols that Address Cultural Awareness --
Click Here
This Website is not affiliated with nor
endorsed by the Annie Malone Children
and Family Service Center or the Annie Malone Historical Society.
Who was Madam C.J.
Walker's Role Model?
"Addie Monroe -- self made -- netflix -- Annie Malone -- Poro College --
Octavia Spencer -- Addie Munroe -- African American -- entrepreneur -- business -- Oprah --
Madam C.J. Walker -- Avon -- Orphan's Home -- fraternity -- sorority --
cotillion -- debutante ball -- sweet 16 -- NAACP -- Urban League -- St. Louis -- Chicago -- Turnbo -- Minerva --
hair salon -- barber shop -- church -- Black History Museum -- HBCU --
Black Chamber"
