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Lesson #5: Make Perseverance Your Motto

Article Overview: “There is no royal flower-strewn path to success,” said Walker. “And if there is, I have not found it for if I have accomplished anything in life it is because I have been willing to work hard.”

Lesson #5: Make Perseverance Your Motto

“There is no royal flower-strewn path to success,” said Walker. “And if there is, I have not found it for if I have accomplished anything in life it is because I have been willing to work hard.”

Walker could not have gotten from where she started to where she wound up without a healthy dose of perseverance. Being born as an African American in the 19th century, the odds were already stacked against her. It was a time when few African Americans – let alone women – were running their own businesses, and making a success of it. The majority had little education and was either unemployed or underemployed. Walker, however, was determined not to share that same fate for the rest of her life.

To be sure, Walker suffered discrimination right along with her African American counterparts. One afternoon, when Walker had decided to go watch a movie, the ticket price charged to her was twice that of regular admission for white Americans. Walker was outraged, but instead of taking it lying down she decided to fight back. Walker promptly hired an attorney, sued the theatre for discrimination, and built her own movie complex in her Walker Building headquarters. Indeed, throughout much of her career, Walker made a point of fighting back, even visiting the White House in 1917 to protest the lynching of African Americans.

Because of her status, many onlookers saw Walker as being someone with little to lose and everything to gain. She was after all a poor minority born into a slave family. But Walker did have something to lose.

As her business continued to expand, Walker was turned on by many members of the black community. Despite all her efforts in the fight for equality, Walker was criticized, particularly by black ministers in local churches for what they saw as a product that encouraged black women to look white. Because Walker’s products allowed black women to wear their hair down long and straight, she was criticized as going against God’s will. After all, they said, if black women were meant to have straight hair, God would have given it to them.

Walker’s community was important to her, but she was not about to let their remarks deter her. “Perseverance is my motto,” she said, and was determined not to let any negative remarks stand in the way of running her business.

Walker continued to travel around the country, promoting her products door to door and hiring sales agents. By 1913, her company had a sales force over 20,000 strong throughout not only the U.S., but also Central America and the Caribbean. It is doubtful that her sales agents – mostly black women who went from making $2 a week as domestic workers to $25 a week selling Walker’s products – would have seen her as doing ungodly work. To them, she was a savior who opened up a world of new opportunities. Had Walker chosen not to persevere, she would not have been the only one missing out.

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Article Tags: 19th century, admission, american counterparts, black women, discrimination, education, equality, fate, flower, local churches, lynching of african americans, odds, onlookers, perseverance, slave family, ticket price, walker building, walkers, white house



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