HISTORIANS VOGUE
"Now who in the world thought was a good idea to go tampering with most if not all of 'His/Her' stories, as if the truth wasn't going to come out some way, shape or form?" "And why weren't we taught about the many Black Historians in our 'Social Studies' classes?" Not only discussing the inventions of like majority everything on this planet; but discussing those who became millionaires from building entrepreneurship way back when.
Take Madame CJ Walker for instance; in only just a few words that sprinkled around, we were told the stories about her creativity on hair products and how it was made to treat the Black woman's coily hair. According to some research Madame Walker's creative idea had turned into a million dollar invention by the early 1900's, not only from producing and selling hair products that treated the scalps of these women but also marketing cosmetics and women's essentials; which eventually built her business into what they call today a network marketing company. She was the Amway, the Avon, the Herbalife in which these companies still thrive today since as early as the 1930's. If you asked me I would say, Yes her name will forever be legendary if we as Foundational Black Americans continue to express these stories for generations to come; However if you know like I know, only tangibles attached to her story would be highly essential which gives us the inspiration to continue the trail that she left behind.
Speaking of trails being left behind, we have heard the many stories about Abraham Lincoln and how he declared freedom for slaves by passing the Emancipation Proclamation, however we have never heard about the story of his wife's dressmaker. Now it may not be considered relevant to some when discussing a former President of such caliber but since its History, let's talk about it. Elizabeth Keckley, a slave masters child who was born into slavery due to her mom being a house slave owned by Burwell's in Dinwiddie, VA. Keckley began her slave work as a nursemaid at the age of four and developed the skill of sewing from her mom who was a seamstress sewing clothing for the owners family and many other slaves.
As time went on Keckley had become a seamstress larger than most in 1855 and eventually accumulated enough revenue to pay for her and her son's freedom ($1200 to be exact). After all the demonizing, traumas, sexual abuse and brutality as a slave worker for 30 years; Keckley decided to make her way to DC by 1860 and established her dressmaking business with the help of 20 employees on her team. They designed gowns for the wives of many politicians such as Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Abraham Lincoln. However after the Civil War Keckley's connection with the Lincoln's had dwindled due to Abraham's assassination and the lost of her one & only son. She eventually wrote a book titled, "Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House". Which in most cases, anything done behind the scenes and possibly stored into a History book is usually a place where you'll find all of the secrets.
