Jim Crow Stories: People

Madam C.J. Walker

Sarah Breedlove became the first black American women self-made millionaire. An orphan at age 7, married at age 14, and widowed at twenty with a two year-old girl. She started her own line of hair care products with her husband, who later divorced her. The company became extremely successful. Sarah Breedlove donated to the YMCA, the NAACP, and the NACM. In 1918 she gave a keynote speech at several NAACP fund-raisers for the anti-lynching effort.

Charles Evers

Charles Evans was an important leader in the Civil Rights struggle in Mississippi. Charles served overseas in the U.S. Army with his brother Medgar. Charles and Medgar tried to vote in the 1946 election but were turned away at the polls by armed white men. An assassin shot and killed Charles brother in 1963. Charles took over his brothers position as secretary for the NAACP's Mississippi chapter and led many demonstrations for the rights of blacks. He was elected mayor of Fayette, Mississippi.