Against all odds
She was a first self-made multimillionaire African woman and a pioneer of beauty industry. Annie Malone piloted five business expansions and provided philanthropic support to businesses, people, hospitals, and scholarships. All the while managing strains of very public divorces, racism sexism, numerous law-suits, 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic and great depression.
Annie Malone, was born in 1877 in Metropolis, Illinois (yes, where Superman is from). She was born to enslaved parents, but her parents’ escaped enslavement from Kentucky and found refuge in Metropolis.
Annie was orphaned at early age and her sister became her guardian. Annie was often sick and missed out of school. Though she did not graduate she was good a chemistry and continued to hone her knowledge.
During her growing years, hair straightening was popular hairstyle among black women as it represented freedom from slavery in contrast to braided cornrow styles that was associated to fields of slavery. However, methods used to straighten hairs such as soap, goose fat, heavy oils and bacon grease often damaged the scalp and hair follicles.
In early 1900s, Annie, coupled with the influence of her aunt who was herbal doctor and her own knowledge of chemistry, invented her own line of non-damaging haircare products for African American women.
In 1902, Turnbo moved to St. Louis, Missouri. She used door-to-door sales and marketing tactics to rapidly grow her hair care business and opened her first haircare shop.
In 1906, she rebranded her hair brand as Poro, meaning spirituality growth in west African (Mende) language.
Annie was one of the first major Black philanthropist. She donated huge sum to build orphanages, and served as board president for St. Louis Colored Orphan’s Home. She was also a generous employer, who would give cash awards for savings and house purchases, and give diamond ring for five-year service.
She trained over 75000 women in sales including Madame C J Walker. Who learnt business under Annie Malone and herself became a successful business woman.
She ran into financial troubles dues to strings of lawsuits and her trust in dishonest managers. Her husband Aaron Malone filed for divorce in 1927 and demanded half the business. Aaron Malone courted black leaders and politicians who sided with him in the high-profile divorce. However, Annie Malone’s devotion to black women and charitable institutions led Poro workers and church leaders to support her. This allowed her to keep her business but at substantial financial loss. Yet, her financial struggles continued though 1930s due to great depression and lawsuits. Ultimately in 1950, she lost Poro to government due to mismanagement of taxes. Still she remained extremely wealthy but lived modestly, donating thousands of dollars to local black YMCA.
Nevertheless, her legacy lives on as an inspiration. She’s remembered first self-made multimillionaire African woman who successfully built and ran her business, despite all odds stacked against her.
Reference
https://freemaninstitute.com/poro.htm
https://historicmissourians.shsmo.org/annie-turnbo-malone
https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/historians-miscellaneous-biographies/annie-turnbo-malone
