Emmy Winner A’Lelia Bundles on Madam C.J. Walker, First U.S. Self-Made Female Millionaire

In this episode of The Learning Curve, we celebrate Black History Month as co-hosts U-Ark Prof. Albert Cheng and Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools speak with A’Lelia Bundles, an accomplished journalist, television producer, and biographer of Madam C. J. Walker, about the life, legacy, and enduring significance of her remarkable great-great-grandmother. Ms. Bundles traces Walker’s journey from her birth as Sarah Breedlove in post–Civil War Louisiana through an orphaned childhood marked by poverty, labor, and faith, and into her formative years in St. Louis, where church, music, and education shaped her ambitions. She explores how Breedlove’s experiences with marriage, motherhood, and economic hardship informed her entrepreneurial drive, leading to the creation of innovative hair-care products and the launch of the Madam C. J. Walker brand. Bundles discusses Walker’s development of a national training network that empowered Black women economically, her rise as America’s first self-made female millionaire, and her philanthropic leadership. She also highlights Madam Walker’s Westchester County, NY,  mansion estate “Villa Lewaro” as a Harlem Renaissance hub, and explores the cultural impact of Self Made. In closing, Ms. Bundles reads a passage from On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker.

Stories of the Week: Albert shares an article from KQED on when the Spanish Flu upended universities and how students paid the price. Alisha addresses a Cal Matters article on how San Diego teachers plan their first strike in 30 years over issues with staffing and services for special education.

Guest:

A’Lelia Bundles is the author of Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance (2025), the first major biography of her great-grandmother, and of On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker (2001), a New York Times Notable Book and bestseller about her great-great-grandmother, an early 20th-century hair care industry entrepreneur and philanthropist. This book was the inspiration for Self Made, the fictional four-part 2020 Netflix series starring Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer. A’Lelia worked in network television news for 30 years, first at NBC News where she was a producer for news and magazine programs, and then at ABC News where she was a World News Tonight producer, Washington, D.C. deputy bureau chief and director of talent development. She is a former vice chair of Columbia University’s Board of Trustees and former board chair of the National Archives Foundation. A’Lelia’s articles and essays have been published in the New York Times Book Review, Variety, TheUndefeated.com (now Andscape.com), Al Jazeera, Parade, Ms., O Magazine, and Essence. A recipient of an Emmy and a du Pont Gold Baton for her television news work, A’Lelia was named to Forbes Magazine’s 50 Over 50 Impact list. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and received a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.