A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

Madame Walker was one of the four iconic women who really created what's now the modern hair-care and cosmetics industry, and we know about her in the black community because everybody gets their hair done.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

One of the key things for me about Madame Walker's life is that she really does represent this first generation out of slavery when black people were reinventing themselves, and as a woman who was the first child in her family born free, she was trying to figure out a way, and she moved from Delta, Louisiana.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

By 1916, as Madam Walker herself was developing more assertive views on race, she was becoming eager to assume her place alongside Harlem's famous, influential and intriguing residents.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

Madam Walker, as part of the first generation out of slavery, really was inventing the way that she operated in the world.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

Madam Walker was an incredible woman, but she wasn't the only one of her time who was. She just took it to the highest height.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

DuBois - my intellectual hero - had written an obit of Madam, praising her... I began to see Madam Walker beyond the definitions others had given her.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

Madame Walker was mythologized like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, but I want to show that she was fabulous on her own.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

Many people have told me that once they learn of Madam Walker's accomplishments they are surprised, even embarrassed, that they have never heard of her. But they shouldn't be. Her extraordinary story was simply omitted from the history books.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

To her credit, Madam Walker discerned that black women wanted to conform to white Victorian models of beauty. She was aware of the double- sidedness of her products - helping black women appear more European in look, with straight hair - but she always maintained that she was simply selling products that promoted hair growth.

A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Bundles

A lot of people think Oprah is channeling for Madam Walker, and there are lots of parallels.