Annie Minerva Turnbo Malone (August 9, 1877 – May 10, 1957) was an American businesswoman, inventor and philanthropist. She is considered to be one of the first African American women to become a millionaire. In the first three decades of the 20th century, she founded and developed a large and prominent commercial and educational enterprise centered on cosmetics for African-American women.

She was born in Metropolis, Illinois, the daughter of Robert and Isabella Turnbo, who had formerly been enslaved. Orphaned at a young age, Annie attended a public school in Metropolis, before moving in 1896 to live with her older sister Ada Moody in Peoria. There Turnbo attended high school, taking a particular interest in chemistry. However, due to frequent illness, she was forced to withdraw from classes.

While out of school, Turnbo grew so fascinated with hair and hair care that she often practiced hairdressing with her sister. With expertise in both chemistry and hair care, Turnbo began to develop her own hair-care products.

While experimenting with hair and different hair-care products, she developed and manufactured her own line of non-damaging hair straighteners, special oils, and hair-stimulant products for African-American women. She named her new product “Wonderful Hair Grower”. To promote her new product, Turnbo sold the Wonderful Hair Grower in bottles door-to-door. Her products and sales began to revolutionize hair-care methods for all African Americans.

In 1918 she created Poro College in St Louis which held the company’s business offices, manufacturing operations and training centers. People would learn cosmetology and sales training for women who wanted to sell Poro products. This place was valued at more than a million dollars and included classrooms, barber shops, laboratories, an auditorium, dining facilities, a theater, gymnasium, chapel and roof garden.

1926 there were 175 college employees and more than 75,000 women across North and South America, Africa and the Philippines.

Annie lived modestly and gave away most her income. She supported African American colleges, YWCA, orphan homes and many other charities. She was at her peak, but trouble brewed on the horizon for her.

In 1927, her husband filed for divorce and wanted half of everything. He had been trying to take over the entire company, but found she was a better fighter than he thought. In a public divorce where he had black male politicians on his side, she had all of the communities and charities she had supported on her side. She settled with him for much less.

In 1930 she moved the business to Chicago, Illinois.  And again found herself in a legal battle from other people who wanted to take credit for her business. Annie’s business made it through the Depression and World War II.

But by the 1950s, when she had 32 branches of the Poro school, the government seized the school for back taxes.

Annie died of a stroke in 1957 at the age of 87 years old. Her estate was only worth 100,000 but her legacy was invaluable. She had taught generations of women how to be beautiful. You can’t put a price on that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Turnbo_Malone

Annie Minerva Turnbo Malone (August 9, 1877 – May 10, 1957) was an American businesswoman, inventor and philanthropist. She is considered to be one of the first African American women to become a millionaire. In the first three decades of the 20th century, she founded and developed a large and prominent commercial and educational enterprise centered on cosmetics for African-American women.

She was born in Metropolis, Illinois, the daughter of Robert and Isabella Turnbo, who had formerly been enslaved. Orphaned at a young age, Annie attended a public school in Metropolis, before moving in 1896 to live with her older sister Ada Moody in Peoria. There Turnbo attended high school, taking a particular interest in chemistry. However, due to frequent illness, she was forced to withdraw from classes.

While out of school, Turnbo grew so fascinated with hair and hair care that she often practiced hairdressing with her sister. With expertise in both chemistry and hair care, Turnbo began to develop her own hair-care products.

While experimenting with hair and different hair-care products, she developed and manufactured her own line of non-damaging hair straighteners, special oils, and hair-stimulant products for African-American women. She named her new product “Wonderful Hair Grower”. To promote her new product, Turnbo sold the Wonderful Hair Grower in bottles door-to-door. Her products and sales began to revolutionize hair-care methods for all African Americans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Turnbo_Malone

Annie Minerva Turnbo Malone (August 9, 1877 – May 10, 1957) was an American businesswoman, inventor and philanthropist. She is considered to be one of the first African American women to become a millionaire. In the first three decades of the 20th century, she founded and developed a large and prominent commercial and educational enterprise centered on cosmetics for African-American women.

She was born in Metropolis, Illinois, the daughter of Robert and Isabella Turnbo, who had formerly been enslaved. Orphaned at a young age, Annie attended a public school in Metropolis, before moving in 1896 to live with her older sister Ada Moody in Peoria. There Turnbo attended high school, taking a particular interest in chemistry. However, due to frequent illness, she was forced to withdraw from classes.

While out of school, Turnbo grew so fascinated with hair and hair care that she often practiced hairdressing with her sister. With expertise in both chemistry and hair care, Turnbo began to develop her own hair-care products.

While experimenting with hair and different hair-care products, she developed and manufactured her own line of non-damaging hair straighteners, special oils, and hair-stimulant products for African-American women. She named her new product “Wonderful Hair Grower”. To promote her new product, Turnbo sold the Wonderful Hair Grower in bottles door-to-door. Her products and sales began to revolutionize hair-care methods for all African Americans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Turnbo_Malone

Nina Mae McKinney (June 12, 1912 – May 3, 1967) was an American actress who worked internationally during the 1930s and in the postwar period in theatre, film and television, after beginning her career on Broadway and in Hollywood. Dubbed “The Black Garbo” in Europe because of her striking beauty, McKinney was both one of the first African-American film stars in the United States and one of the first African-Americans to appear on British television.

McKinney was born June 12, 1912, in Lancaster, South Carolina, to Georgia Crawford and Hal Napoleon McKinney. Shortly after McKinney’s birth, her mother often hid from her abusive husband in the house of Colonel Leroy Springs (of Springs Industries), for whom she worked as a domestic.

By 1920, Crawford relocated to Savannah, Georgia, to work as a cook and Hal supported the family financially as a delivery man for a local drugstore. Crawford remarried and moved to New York. Nina Mae McKinney moved later.

Her first job on stage was in the chorus line of Blackbirds of 1928 which starred Bill Robinson. She then had a role in the King Vidor’s movie, Hallelujah which led her getting a 5-year contract from MGM. She had a few roles with them, but none were leading roles.

In 1935 she made Sanders of the River with Paul Robeson. She and Robeson were promised the roles of the Africans in the movie would depict them respectfully, the film was later cut to change that. McKinney played maids and sex workers because those were the roles offered to people of color during that time period.

She moved to Europe where she worked in nightclubs and theaters, doing an occasional movie. She toured playing nightclubs and worked on some Britishe films. But eventually moved back to the United States in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland.

She played maids and sex workers because those were the roles offered to people of color during that time period. She would get an occasional role that was off that path. In 1949 she landed the role of the jealous girlfriend in Pinky starring Jean Crain, Ethel Barrymore and Ethel Waters.

In 1951, she performed her last role in summer stock. She moved back to New York City in 1960. She died in 1967.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Mae_McKinney

Nina Mae McKinney (June 12, 1912 – May 3, 1967) was an American actress who worked internationally during the 1930s and in the postwar period in theatre, film and television, after beginning her career on Broadway and in Hollywood. Dubbed “The Black Garbo” in Europe because of her striking beauty, McKinney was both one of the first African-American film stars in the United States and one of the first African-Americans to appear on British television.

McKinney was born June 12, 1912, in Lancaster, South Carolina, to Georgia Crawford and Hal Napoleon McKinney. Shortly after McKinney’s birth, her mother often hid from her abusive husband in the house of Colonel Leroy Springs (of Springs Industries), for whom she worked as a domestic.

By 1920, Crawford relocated to Savannah, Georgia, to work as a cook and Hal supported the family financially as a delivery man for a local drugstore. Crawford remarried and moved to New York. Nina Mae McKinney moved later.

Her first job on stage was in the chorus line of Blackbirds of 1928 which starred Bill Robinson. She then had a role in the King Vidor’s movie, Hallelujah which led her getting a 5-year contract from MGM. She had a few roles with them, but none were leading roles.

In 1935 she made Sanders of the River with Paul Robeson. She and Robeson were promised the roles of the Africans in the movie would depict them respectfully, the film was later cut to change that. McKinney played maids and sex workers because those were the roles offered to people of color during that time period.

She moved to Europe where she worked in nightclubs and theaters, doing an occasional movie. She toured playing nightclubs and worked on some Britishe films. But eventually moved back to the United States in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Mae_McKinney

Nina Mae McKinney (June 12, 1912 – May 3, 1967) was an American actress who worked internationally during the 1930s and in the postwar period in theatre, film and television, after beginning her career on Broadway and in Hollywood. Dubbed “The Black Garbo” in Europe because of her striking beauty, McKinney was both one of the first African-American film stars in the United States and one of the first African-Americans to appear on British television.

McKinney was born June 12, 1912, in Lancaster, South Carolina, to Georgia Crawford and Hal Napoleon McKinney. Shortly after McKinney’s birth, her mother often hid from her abusive husband in the house of Colonel Leroy Springs (of Springs Industries), for whom she worked as a domestic.

By 1920, Crawford relocated to Savannah, Georgia, to work as a cook and Hal supported the family financially as a delivery man for a local drugstore. Crawford remarried and moved to New York. Nina Mae McKinney moved later.

Her first job on stage was in the chorus line of Blackbirds of 1928 which starred Bill Robinson. She then had a role in the King Vidor’s movie, Hallelujah which led her getting a 5-year contract from MGM. She had a few roles with them, but none were leading roles.

In 1935 she made Sanders of the River with Paul Robeson.

She and Robeson were promised the roles of the Africans in the movie would depict them respectfully, the film was later cut to change that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Mae_McKinney

Nina Mae McKinney (June 12, 1912 – May 3, 1967) was an American actress who worked internationally during the 1930s and in the postwar period in theatre, film and television, after beginning her career on Broadway and in Hollywood. Dubbed “The Black Garbo” in Europe because of her striking beauty, McKinney was both one of the first African-American film stars in the United States and one of the first African-Americans to appear on British television.

McKinney was born June 12, 1912, in Lancaster, South Carolina, to Georgia Crawford and Hal Napoleon McKinney. Shortly after McKinney’s birth, her mother often hid from her abusive husband in the house of Colonel Leroy Springs (of Springs Industries), for whom she worked as a domestic.

By 1920, Crawford relocated to Savannah, Georgia, to work as a cook for Cynthia Withers, her daughter Irene, and other white lodgers. McKinney stayed behind on Gay Street in the Gills Creek neighborhood with her 70-year old paternal grandmother, Mary A. McKinney. Hal supported the family financially as a delivery man for a local drugstore. Meanwhile, Georgia had married James Edwin Maynor and migrated north to New York. Eight-year-old McKinney followed them shortly afterward, but was sent back down south to stay with her Uncle Curtis and his family in Gills Creek when her father went to prison. In 1923, Hal escaped from his chain gang and was never recaptured.

In 1923, McKinney went to live with Springs as a live-in domestic. Her duties included delivering and collecting parcels from the local post office. To entertain herself as she made the trips, she did stunts on her bicycle. She began acting in small scale school productions at the Lancaster Training School.

Her first job on stage was in the chorus line of Blackbirds of 1928 which starred Bill Robinson. She then had a role in the King Vidor’s movie, Hallelujah which led her getting a 5-year contract from MGM. She had a few roles with them, but none were leading roles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Mae_McKinney

Nina Mae McKinney (June 12, 1912 – May 3, 1967) was an American actress who worked internationally during the 1930s and in the postwar period in theatre, film and television, after beginning her career on Broadway and in Hollywood. Dubbed “The Black Garbo” in Europe because of her striking beauty, McKinney was both one of the first African-American film stars in the United States and one of the first African-Americans to appear on British television.

McKinney was born June 12, 1912, in Lancaster, South Carolina, to Georgia Crawford and Hal Napoleon McKinney. Shortly after McKinney’s birth, her mother often hid from her abusive husband in the house of Colonel Leroy Springs (of Springs Industries), for whom she worked as a domestic.

By 1920, Crawford relocated to Savannah, Georgia, to work as a cook for Cynthia Withers, her daughter Irene, and other white lodgers. McKinney stayed behind on Gay Street in the Gills Creek neighborhood with her 70-year old paternal grandmother, Mary A. McKinney. Hal supported the family financially as a delivery man for a local drugstore. Meanwhile, Georgia had married James Edwin Maynor and migrated north to New York. Eight-year-old McKinney followed them shortly afterward, but was sent back down south to stay with her Uncle Curtis and his family in Gills Creek when her father went to prison. In 1923, Hal escaped from his chain gang and was never recaptured.

In 1923, McKinney went to live with Springs as a live-in domestic. Her duties included delivering and collecting parcels from the local post office. To entertain herself as she made the trips, she did stunts on her bicycle. She began acting in small scale school productions at the Lancaster Training School.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Mae_McKinney

Ida Bell Wells-Barnett was an American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Wells dedicated her career to combating prejudice and violence, and advocating for African-American equality—especially that of women.

Wells was born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi on July 26, 1862. At the age of 16, she lost both her parents and her infant brother in the 1878 yellow fever epidemic. She went to work and kept the rest of the family together with the help of her grandmother. Later, moving with some of her siblings to Memphis, Tennessee, Wells found better pay as a teacher.

Wells co-owned and wrote for the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight newspaper, where her reporting covered incidents of racial segregation and inequality. Subjected to continued threats and criminal violence, including when a white mob destroyed her newspaper office and presses, Wells left Memphis for Chicago, Illinois.

Even though she moved, it didn’t stop her from documenting the lynchings of African Americans exposing the brutality and analyzing the sociology.  She was outspoken in the women’s rights and civil rights movement. In 2020, she was posthumously honored with a Pulitzer Prize special citation for her work reporting on violence against African Americans.

A story is reported that Wells went to lunch with Frederick Douglass, in a place she never thought would let her in. Yet, Douglass showed it was possible to eat in a White only restaurant.

In addition to working in educational facilities and women’s clubs, she also worked on the women’s suffrage movement.  She often would challenge the Caucasian women for not speaking out against lynching when they were talking about women’s rights.  She travelled to Europe speaking about lynching and women’s rights. She wrote an expose on the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago because it did not reflect African American life. She wrote investigative reports for the Chicago Defender and helped fight for worker’s rights for African American workers.

She loved her children and her husband, Ferdinand Lee Barnett. She spent a lot of time trying to balance her work life of traveling and speaking with raising her children. She died March 25, 1931.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_B._Wells

Ida Bell Wells-Barnett was an American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Wells dedicated her career to combating prejudice and violence, and advocating for African-American equality—especially that of women.

Wells was born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi on July 26, 1862. At the age of 16, she lost both her parents and her infant brother in the 1878 yellow fever epidemic. She went to work and kept the rest of the family together with the help of her grandmother. Later, moving with some of her siblings to Memphis, Tennessee, Wells found better pay as a teacher.

Wells co-owned and wrote for the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight newspaper, where her reporting covered incidents of racial segregation and inequality. Subjected to continued threats and criminal violence, including when a white mob destroyed her newspaper office and presses, Wells left Memphis for Chicago, Illinois.

Even though she moved, it didn’t stop her from documenting the lynchings of African Americans exposing the brutality and analyzing the sociology.  She was outspoken in the women’s rights and civil rights movement. In 2020, she was posthumously honored with a Pulitzer Prize special citation for her work reporting on violence against African Americans.

A story is reported that Wells went to lunch with Frederick Douglass, in a place she never thought would let her in. Yet, Douglass showed it was possible to eat in a White only restaurant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_B._Wells