| A'lelia Walker |
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Information AboutA'lelia Walker |
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She was born Lelia McWilliams to Moses McWilliams and 18 year old Sarah Breedlove Madame C. J. Walker . She changed her name to match her famous mother and stepfather to A'Lelia Walker while attending Knoxville College in Tennessee . She married three times: to a doctor named Robinson whom she divorced in 1914; to a doctor named Wiley Wilson whom she divorced in 1919; and to a doctor named James Arthur Kennedy, from 1920 until her death in 1931. She never birthed children but in 1912 she did adopt daughter Mae Bryant Perry. In 1919 she inherited a very successful hair care and beauty supply business from her mother Madame C.J. Walker . Noting her beauty, lavish clothing, and glamorous lifestyle, some dubbed her the Mahogany Millionairess. Her high life also inspired singers, poets, and sculptors of the Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes called her the "joy goddess of Harlem's 1920's"; Zora Neale Hurston outlined a play about her and her mother; and Carl Van Vechten based his Nigger Heaven character, Adora Boniface, on her. During the 1920's she played host to many important artists of the Harlem Renaissance . Her business began to suffer in 1929 with the beginning of the Great Depression . After years of the high life and alcohol -- as well as ignoring doctors’ warnings that she needed to lose weight and lower her blood pressure--Walker’s six-foot body gave out. She died on August 16th, 1931, at 46 years of age. Walker had been hosting a birthday party for a friend at a house in Long Branch, New Jersey. |
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