Although most credit Madam C.J. Walker as America’s first Black millionairess, some historians say otherwise. Inventor and philanthropist Annie Malone has been named as the true first millionaire after inventing a hair care product company.
Born Annie Minerva Turnbo on August 9, 1869 to escaped slave parents, Malone grew up in southern Illinois as one of 11 children. Orphaned at a young age, Malone attended school in Peoria but later dropped out.
Malone’s interest in chemistry and hairdressing became a serious hobby, and she practiced on her sister’s hair. She also had an aunt who was a herbalist, and she studied her techniques.
Black women then were using goose fat and other harsh products on their hair. Just before the 20th Century, Malone developed an improved hair straightening solution.
Naming the product the “Great Wonderful Hair Grower,” Malone moved to St. Louis in 1902 and began selling it door to door. Armed with salespersons and assistants, the product took off.
Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. stated in a piece that Walker was actually a saleswoman for Malone. Malone attracted skeptics to her products by offering free treatments. The product sold so well that Malone was able to open a store in 1904.
The product was re-branded with Malone naming it the “Poro Method” or simply “Poro,” which is the name of a West African secret society according to Malone’s bio. The world also means “physical and spiritual fulfillment.”
In 1914, Malone married Aaron E. Malone, a high school principal. By 1917, Poro Beauty College was opened in St. Louis. It was the first educational facility for Black cosmetology in the United States. According to Malone’s site, the school generated 75,000 salespersons, or “agents,” worldwide, including in the Caribbean.
In 1920, Malone’s headquarters in St. Louis and Chicago was reported to have assets worth $14 million. It has also been written that Malone was worth over $1 million in 1918.
The Philadelphia Tribune wrote about Malone, reporting that in 1923 she paid the highest income tax of any African-American. She was also the board president of the St. Louis Colored Orphan’s Home, and donated money to help build the orphanage. It was later renamed the Annie Malone’s Children’s Home and still stands today as the Annie Malone Children and Family Center.
Also around this time, Malone used her earnings to finance the education of two full-time students in every historically Black college and university in America.
By 1930, Malone moved her entire operation to Chicago. Her business began to falter as she was dealing with a divorce and a pair of lawsuits during the Great Depression. In 1943, a lien from the IRS was issued against her and she lost Poro and much of her holdings to the government.
Malone suffered a stroke and died on May 10, 1957 at age 87.
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