I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. From there I was promoted to the washtub. From there I was promoted to the cook kitchen. And from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations.
What it means
Walker tells her life as a series of steps up: from the cotton fields to laundry work, to cooking, and then into a business of her own. The first two promotions happened to her. The last one she made herself.
“I promoted myself” is the point. No one was going to give her the next step, so she took it.
The context
Walker was born Sarah Breedlove on 23 December 1867 on the plantation in Delta, Louisiana, where her parents had been enslaved before the end of the Civil War. Orphaned at seven, she worked in the cotton fields with her older sister, and later as a laundress in St. Louis, “working for as little as $1.50 a day,” according to her biographer, A’Lelia Bundles. She often said, “I got my start by giving myself a start.”
She spoke these words at the National Negro Business League’s convention in Chicago in July 1912, and went on: “I have built my own factory on my own ground.” According to the National Archives, she “took the floor and introduced herself” this way “when Booker T. Washington did not include her on the podium.” Wikipedia says she addressed the gathering “from the convention floor,” and that the following year she spoke to the convention from the podium as a keynote speaker.
Why it matters
Persistence is often pictured as enduring. Walker’s version is more active: she did the hard work in front of her and, when no one offered the next step, she made it herself, including speaking up at a convention that hadn’t planned to hear her.
It’s a useful reminder for anyone waiting to be picked. Sometimes the promotion has to be self-granted.
About Madam C. J. Walker
American entrepreneur, philanthropist and activist, 1867–1919
Madam C. J. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove on 23 December 1867 on the Delta, Louisiana, plantation where her parents had been enslaved, the first child in her family born into freedom. Orphaned at seven, she worked in the cotton fields and later as a laundress in St. Louis before developing hair care products of her own; after marrying Charles Joseph Walker in 1906, she marketed herself as “Madam C. J. Walker”.
Through the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company she built her fortune selling cosmetics and hair care products for Black women, and the Guinness Book of World Records lists her as the first woman in America to become a self-made millionaire. She gave to organisations such as the NAACP, campaigned against lynching, and died on 25 May 1919 in Irvington, New York, where she had built her estate, Villa Lewaro.
The source, and how we checked it
It comes from Remarks to the National Negro Business League convention, Chicago, July 1912.
The full passage:
I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. From there I was promoted to the washtub. From there I was promoted to the cook kitchen. And from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations….I have built my own factory on my own ground.
We give the words as A'Lelia Bundles, Walker's great-great-granddaughter and official biographer, quotes them on her site, dated July 1912; Wikipedia quotes them the same way. The National Archives' blog gives a slightly different wording ("I was promoted from there to the washtub"). We couldn't open the convention's printed report itself. We last checked this on 9 November 2026.