Black History: Madame C.J.Walker Preparations

I'm Sarah Breedlove, born in 1867 to freed slaves, orphaned in 1874, a washerwoman and servant until I married at the age of 14, and widowed at the age of 19 with a child, Leila. That's a lot for a 19 year old?

                                        

We moved to St. Louis so I could be a laundress for another 17 years. Then, my hair began to fall out in my 30's, and I created a concoction with ingredients from Africa. From old mouth-to-hand recipes, I experimented and refined the formulas and soon I had new hair and the beginnings of a new life.

Credit: New-York Historical Society

I moved to Denver for a better opportunity to sell my new products and arrived in 1905 with only $1.05 in my pocket, but with a trunkful of products designed for African American hair and skin. 

"Wonderful Hair Grower, Glossine, and Vegetable Shampoo were well accepted by the African-American women of Denver. By 1906, C. J. Walker moved to Denver and the two soon married."*2

     

From then on I was known as "Madame C.J.Walker Preparations".  Mr. Walker was a great help for a while, and then we separated. My business and my ambition continued to grow. Again, I had to take care of my family.

The women who sold my products were trained in to be professional LADY consultants, how to administer the products, and of course--sell them.

I continued to build my business, filled needs in the market, promoted women's self reliance, and to expand. In 1908 I established a beauty college to teach women the use of all my preparations. We created a national sales force of women personally selling my products. I had traveling agents also teach them how to set up beauty shops in their homes and create businesses of their own.

There is much more to my story, my headquarters in Harlem, the new plant in Indianapolis, my activist years. Yes, I was a force to be reckoned with!

"I had to make my own living and my own opportunity! But I made it! Don't sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them!"¹ 

Madame C.J.Walker, today, is credited with being the first African American woman millionaire. Much of her profits had been given to worthy causes.

This--all because my hair fell out---and I was tired of washing other-peoples' clothes. 

P.S. My formulas are still available in the marketplace to day---found on something called 'Google'.

Doll: an early Nikki

Dress: Vintage Toni dress (she has added stuffing material to fit this)

Black skirt: new fabric

Hat: unknown vintage

Gloves: Mattel High Society

Cosmetics: assorted vintage Mattel

Victorian cutouts -unknown source.

Notations:

1-A'Lelia Perry Bundles, Madam C. J. Walker: Entrepreneur (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1991), 105.

2 National Park Service - https://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/walker/WAfacts1.html

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All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless noted. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.

 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. 

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Black History Month: James Baldwin

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Author, Activist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist 1924-1987.

During 1969-70, I was fortunate to take two Black Literature classes at University of Wisconsin-Stout. My instructor was a gentleman from South Africa---they were my most memorable courses of my college days. I wish I could remember his name, but, I do remember all the authors and the books, poems, and essays, we read, dissected, and debated. 

 Google search page James Baldwin books drawing from multiple sources.

At the top of the huge heap of reading for these classes---were the American works of James Baldwin. It was the peak of the civil rights movement. Baldwin was everywhere in the news. Our class had students of all nationalities and skin colors, so debates were heated and searching, no begging for points of understanding. 

This last December a movie adapted from James Baldwin's book, "If Beale Street Could Talk," 1974, was well received critically and currently nominated for several Academy Rewards 2018. I'm pleased that Baldwin is again in the news. Now, I have to read that book.

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Collage/Time Magazine cover --1963 from Google image page

His words were unabashedly truthful and unapologetic in assessing the African American experience. Baldwin's writings were and still are intense and unforgiving on all sides. James Baldwin fought for civil rights with his strong voice in novels, essays and poetry throughout the 20^thcentury. 

Born in Harlem, Baldwin wrote in a powerful voice for the oppressed and worked as an activist in the Civil Rights Movement. His early works of the 1950-60's were produced while still living in Harlem.

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Later, Baldwin considered himself a trans-Atlantic commuter, as he spent considerable time living in France.

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Here I imagine him, vividly alive, and still writing---perhaps at a retrospective event on his career. I have no source for the photo on the right.

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Collages from Pinterest photos and the large photo quote/I could not find the original source.

The quote is powerful and applicable today.

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“The place in which I will fit will not exist until I make it!”James Baldwin

Many of his essays as well as poetry are online…take a look. His words will take your breath away and evoke an emotional, as well as an intellectual response. Not for the faint of heart, his writing disturbs us, as does TRUTH.

"All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique. All artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole story; to vomit the anguish up."James Baldwin

Another source of interest, a video compiled for American Masters.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/james-baldwin-civil-rights-highlights/2670/ice 

Features highlights of Baldwin’s deep involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, including “The Fire Next Time,” the March on Washington, the March from Selma to Montgomery and the Baldwin/Buckley Debate at Cambridge University — all excerpted from the film, JamesBaldwin: 

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All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless noted. I will be happy to give credit to the photos I used in the collages. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.

 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. 

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Sandi Magle

Black History Month: Phillis Wheatley

Do you know who was the first African American to be published? You would be surprised to know it was a 20 year-old slave named Phillis Wheatley in 1773.

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Phillis Wheatley born in 1753 in Gambia/Senegal, Africa. A young girl was captured by slave traders and arrived the colonies  in 1761 on the ship, “the Phillis.” Bought by the prominent  Wheatley family in Boston to serve as a personal maid. The young slave was named Phillis and took the last name of Wheatley. Phillis was precocious and quickly learned English, Latin and Greek along with the Wheatley children. She held a favored position in the Wheatley family and yet was still a slave.

Courtesy of American Antiquarian Society

Phillis wrote poetry through her youth influenced by Neoclassical poets. Conventional for the times she wrote poems on morality, piety, and freedom. 

Wheatleys first book, “ Poems on Various things. Religious, and Moral,” was published in 1773 in London, Eventually she was published in America, and is considered the first African American to be published.

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Phillis Wheatley represented an Abolitionists' dream, an example of an educated black woman from Africa, a testimony that blacks could be both artistic and intellectual. 

 In 1776 she wrote to George Washington including a poem for him.

Thee, first in peace and honors—we demand

The grace and glory of thy martial band.

Fam’d for the valour, for the virtues more, 

Hear every tongue the guardian aid implore!

Upon his invitation, Phillis later met Washington in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

She carried on correspondence with various notables of the day, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John-Paul Jones and many religious leaders and members of the abolition movement, here and abroad. 

Freed prior to the death of the Wheatleys, the children also died in young adulthood, leaving Phillis to fend for herself after a life of comfort and privilege. She died in poverty at the age of thirty-one.

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She is immortalized on a Boston commons in bronze.

Boston Woman’s Memorial byArtist Meredith Bergmann

The memorial of three women who made significant contributions for Boston.

Abigal Adams:Phyllis Wheatley:Lucy Stone

More can be found here: 

https://www.boston.gov/departments/womens-advancement/boston-womens-memorial

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Phillis-Wheatley/media/641615/216609 

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/phillis-wheatley

and on numerous poetry sites.

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All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless noted. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.

 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. 

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OLD Recipe---Ham & Pea Soup and a bit of history.

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OLD Recipe and a bit of Food History


In researching for my novel series---yes, I'm writing a novel series for over 10 years, I spent a great deal of time on the availability and the diet of the early 1800's. While, dried legumes have been in use for thousands of years...how did our early Americans utilize what they had available? Soups were a staple in the homes of the rich and poor. In wealthier homes, soup was viewed as a way of teasing the palate for what was to come in the main courses, but for the humble folk---it was hearty, warming meal.

Upstate New York in 1817 had the advantage of lush farms, seasonal fruits, fresh water fish, and the proverbial pig which grazed anywhere it wanted to, with a string of piglets tagging along behind it. Fences were not designed to keep anything in, but to keep roaming pigs and cows from consuming everyone's backyard garden. Each home had a garden, from the stone lined pathways of intricate walks, to staved small kitchen gardens behind the humblest hovel, and of course a shelter for a pig and her piglets. Scraps were fed to the pigs---and it was the GREEN way to deal with otherwise icky kitchen waste that might attract rodents or worse.


         from: agrariannation.blogspot.com

In the Outlander series, Diana Galbadon uses the huge 'white sow', as a humorous break from what was hard times for the Frasers' saga. The pig was known for her ferocity and fecundity. The Frasers' sow produced mass bundles of little piglets, and so was kept far too long, despite her ornery personality and totally owning the space under the house. I finished book 8 (spoiler alert) and she was still there.

Anyway, in 1800's America these animals were butchered, smoked, rendered for their fat, roasted, fried, made into sausages and every last bit of the animal was used. Hence the marriage of legumes and pork/ham. Dried legumes peas, beans, lentils and rice were healthy and stable additions to the table.

My recipe, is not unlike what would have been served at the Fraser's table or at the Governor's table. I have been making soups for over 50 years now---and this is always been our winter favorite.



Soak the Peas overnite, or hurry in microwave or on the stove.

Ham and Split Pea Soup-OLD style, except I use a 6 quart crockpot instead of a kettle over the fire.

Hambones from a 10# smoked butt ham (on sale $6.90) I used 1/8 of this or say $1.00 worth with the bones.
2/3 cup of gelled juice from the roaster bottom, (after skimming fat off)
1/2 cup of coarsely chopped ham bits skin/ham/fat
2 cups of chopped celery (50 cents)
2 large onions (whatever you have) chopped coarsely (1.00)
1# bag of split peas (soaked overnight or boiled, in 2 quarts of water and let sit. (sale $1.40)
3/4# of carrots sliced or diced. (60 cents)
2 cups of diced potatoes (I leave the skins on for fiber and minerals) (50 cents)
4-6 quarts of water----free (we have well water)
1 teaspoon of dried chopped bay leaves or 4 whole ones(remove after cooking.)
2 heaping teaspoon dried marjoram
1 heaping Tablespoon of dried parsley/cilantro
3/4 teaspoon of coarse ground pepper

After rinsing, soak 1# dried peas in 2 quarts of hot water overnight. I cheat and place in microwave for 8 min on high, and then let sit while I prepare the rest of my ingredients.

In frypan, fry the ham bits and fat until lightly browned, add chopped onions and celery. Fry until glistening-add one cup of water to deglaze pan. Pour all this into crock pot with the hambones, and 2 quarts of water. Add the gelled juice from the ham roaster (this is your salt) Turn on high.

Add bayleaf, marjoram, parsley/cilantro (garlic is optional) and pepper. Cover.

Let cook on high for 3-4 hours, or medium for 6-8, until meat has fallen off the bones remove bones and large pieces of meat. Chop meat and add with diced fresh carrots and potatoes. Cook an additional 1-2 hours until carrots and potatoes are soft.

(If you are working you can add the potatoes and carrots in the beginning, they will just be blended into the soup.)

Optional: I always add an acid at the end, either lemon juice 3-4 Tblsp. or 2 tablespoons of a white wine vinegar. This kicks up the flavor without adding additional salt. Do this to taste.

Remove half the soup or I use my NEW inversion blender to cream my soup, or in your blender/chopper to cream half of the soup. We like our soup a bit chunky---so blending half gives it a nice texture.

Enjoy hot with a small dollop of butter or sour cream and some crusty rye bread.

10# Butt Ham after roasting. Bones are already in the crockpot. We have already had one meal from this delicious ham. (I never buy a spiral ham, we find they are dry after baking). Ham is one of the most versatile of meats, great for breakfasts, lunch and dinner.

Frying the ham bits with a tiny bit of fat. 

chopping celery

Onions ready to chop.

Browning the veggies until translucent.

Simple seasonings, Marjoram from our garden, Bay Leaves, Cilantro/or Parsley, pepper.

Add gelled juices from the roaster minus the fat-this provides the salt.

Combine it all-add soaked peas and water.

Simmer in crockpot 3-4 hours on high, or 6-8 on medium, covered.

 Remove the bones and cool, strip meat, chop and add back in to pot.

Chop carrots and potatoes and add.

This filled the crockpot back up!

Simmer an additional 1-2hours--until veggies are done. Add lemon juice or wine vinegar at this stage.

Cream half the soup with blender of your choice.

We enjoy this with thick crusty rye bread, for a winter supper.

Ham and Pea soup is extremely economical. From the 10# ham, we have meat for 6 meals for 2, and soup for 5 meals for two. (22 servings) Total cost roughly--11.00 or roughly 50 cents per meal. Healthy, hearty, economical, and delicious. This freezes so well. 

Feel FREE to copy my recipe, which is mine---from my head.

What's your favorite winter meal? 

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless otherwise designated. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.

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Sandi Magle

My Month of Good Intentions!

I have always used January, as my month of Good Intentions!

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A sort of dreamy, sleepy, nesting time...

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A time to incubate....thoughts, dreams, intentions!

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But life and this season...rolls on, whether I want it to, or not.

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From our non-white Christmas... 

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to the cold JANUARY SNOW we finally had last week.

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To Sunshine and a freezing thaw---hopefully someday.

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I try to use this stalemate of all seasons....to reorganize---plan---

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Sort, Label, and Dispose of...

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...but, I'm afraid I accumulated more VINTAGE treasures

than I let go in 2018. 

I'm in my 70's now and all these family things---and the newly acquired finds, need to be gone through, sorted, sold, or saved.

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I can't blame it ALL on my great grandparent's on any side.

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I have OODLES of family ephemera I need to go through. I have photos, records to sort and decide how to preserve. Above is a photo of the family fish market in 1946. Look at those trolly tracks---my goodness, I remember the State Street trolley from my childhood.

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From Denmark, this is a photo of a possible family home-----all my ancestors knew whose it was---so why bother writing on it...

when, where, or whom? 

I have joined several 'history' sites of our hometowns and our ancestors' home countries. That's a few months of a 'Good Intentions' project right there. 

My Danish family church (Furreby Kirke) has been active since the year 1200 on the same spot---and if you can read them, the church records go back to at least to the 1400's. I have genealogy searches going back to the early 1700's, and yet my 20th century grandmother's 'sisters' may not be her sisters at all? 

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My husband's family have been in Wisconsin since 1853 coming from an area outside of Prague. Before that---it dries up---because of the 'iron curtain' that still keeps records closed in many Eastern European countries.

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Then there are ALL our own 'things'....!

I do blame Mom (don't we all), yes----she acquired a lot of stuff and never let go of anything, but that horde included three generations of family items she chose to ignore and keep.

 We love this desk, but it is crammed in a corner and unusable---and we are planning on a new sectional sofa this year---

OY! Where will the desk go?

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The antique brass plate is very old (noses are polished off). It has found a spot in the hall, but, the vase is from Grandmother's coffee set of silver-plated over brass (which is showing through from all the generations of polishing-not me, lol.). The brass candlesticks are from the mid 1940's and were my mom's favorites.

Honestly, I don't want to part with them, even though they are not 'IN' right now. "Everything goes around, comes around"---as my mom always said. (She was buried in her Revlon-Real Red lipstick color she chose in 1943 and wore every day). Of course she was right---Red lipstick was back in style in 2006, 

even Revlon Real Red.

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I have contributed bunches of stuff to the family piles of treasures.

I  found this bathroom shelf and redid it my first year of blogging. 

I never wear jewelry, so this is the last time I looked at it.

 Now, the shelf is in a pile in the basement!

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I don't know what happened to this great box of buttons?

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Here's a fabulous old print I found a few years ago----needs to be reinforced and have new non-glare glass. Where is it? hiding in the extra bedroom on the floor facing a bookcase. 

I know it will cost some bucks to redo it, so I keep putting it off. 

I have sixteen bins of fabrics I promised to go through for donations for a friend's quilting group three years ago. 

Where does the time, specifically my time go?

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Sometimes I think I'm buried, by the season or is it the season of  OLD AGE?

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When focused, I'm great at making plans----(the DIY Barbie house)

And, even following through.

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My husband and I made this for our grand in 2015.

Result, I got re-hooked on playing with dolls. 

 I have moved my doll related posts to my doll blog: https://barbieoldnewgreenredo.blogspot.com

I digress, but the issue at hand, is HOW should I move forward.

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It is only 8 weeks or so to the Chicago Garden show-----where I can smell dirt---and revitalize, start plants, and hope for Spring.

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But, for now, I'm pulling up my big girl panties and making 

a few PLAN(S). 

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to TRANSFORM 

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RAISE MY CHIN and 

MOVE FORWARD!

With Good, no GREAT INTENTIONS! 

1: Finish one of the four books I am writing.

2: Cut those fabric bins in half through donations or sell.

3: List at least 100 items by March 1, 2019 in the Etsy shop. 

4: Blog here at least once a week, and continue to support blogging.

5: Live Creatively, Thoughtfully and with JOY.

Don't hold me to it...!

HUGS, How are your new year's plans going?

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless otherwise designated. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.

Thanks ALWAYS for visiting!

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.

Thank you for your cooperation,

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Sandi Magle

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