Tananarive Due‘s book "The Black Rose"
depicts the endeavors of America’s first African American female
millionaire.
By Amie Howell
Daily Bruin Contributor
Madam C.J. Walker might be less familiar to modern audiences
than some other historical figures, but her accomplishments are no
less amazing ““ she became America’s first African
American millionaire and used her status to work for African
American rights.
Walker is the subject of Tananarive Due’s new book
“The Black Rose.” The book was originally envisioned by
“Roots” author Alex Haley. Haley amassed thousands of
pages of research on Madam C.J. Walker before his death in
1992.
Now novelist and former Miami Herald columnist Tananarive Due
has taken up where Haley left off, finally bringing Haley’s
research to light.
“I was raised to have a great deal of respect for history
““ especially the people in history who have made a tremendous
difference, and Madam C.J. Walker was one of them,” Due said
in a recent interview. “I knew the book would be
fictionalized, but I still wanted to do her life
justice.”
At times, completing Haley’s work seemed a daunting task
for Due.
“Most of the time I was terrified,” she said,
laughing. “I often found myself saying “˜What in the
world have you gotten yourself into?'”
“The Black Rose”is a work of historical fiction that
traces the life of Walker ““ who created “Madam
Walker’s Wonderful Hair Grower,” a scalp conditioning
formula, and later developed a beauty academy with her trademark
name.
Due was given a one year deadline to sift through Haley’s
voluminous research and complete “The Black Rose”
““ as dictated by a mutual agreement between the Haley and
Walker Estates.
“It was a very intimidating project all around,” Due
said.
Set with a deadline to finish the novel Haley could not begin,
Due made one research trip to Haley’s home in Indianapolis
but admits to wishing she had more time to go on another.
Due, who has three suspense novels to her credit, admits this
new venture was a bit daunting. Even the most seemingly trivial
details, such as the furniture and food of the time, needed to be
considered in writing this book.
“Every detail was sort of foreign to me,” Due
said.
To learn more about everyday life in this period, she turned to
a rather unusual source.
“Thank goodness for historical catalogs from stores like
Bloomingdale’s and Sears, Roebuck and Co.!” she
said.
The daughter of former slaves, Walker rose from being a
penniless orphan, forced to support herself and her sister by
washing clothes and picking cotton on a Louisiana plantation, to
eventually becoming a self-made millionaire.
A scalp problem proved to be the secret to her success; she
invented a petroleum/sulfur emollient to combat the problem and the
product turned out to grow hair as well. To avoid competition from
other products, Walker moved to Denver and set up a factory to
produce “Madam Walker’s Wonderful Hair
Grower.”
Due offered one of Walker’s favorite quotes to demonstrate
her perseverance: “I got my start by giving myself a
start.” This dedicated, optimistic mentality took Walker far
in life. By the time of her death, Walker was a millionaire,
philanthropist, speaker for the NAACP and founder of numerous
programs for African Americans.
Due expressed admiration for Walker, a devoted entrepreneur able
to prosper in a time when opportunities for African American women
were severely limited.
“It’s all the more amazing that Madam C.J. Walker
was able to visualize a future for herself and set out on a path
that very few American women of any color had undertaken at that
time,” Due said.
Writing “The Black Rose” proved to be a spiritual
experience for Due.
“It helped me grow in every possible way,” she
said.
“The Black Rose” has recently been nominated for the
NAACP Image award, a distinction that brings great pride for Due, a
daughter of two civil rights activists.
“I don’t know what award would make me more
proud,” she said.
Due hopes that Walker’s story of overcoming obstacles will
inspire others to reach their goals and said the story applies to
all of those who read the novel.
“I hope “˜The Black Rose’ will be a blueprint
for achieving your dreams,” Due said. “(Walker) allowed
herself to blossom to her full potential, which I believe is the
responsibility all of us have to ourselves.”