Madam C. J. Walker's Gospel of Giving: Black Women's Philanthropy During Jim Crow by Tyrone McKinley Freeman (review)

Madam C. J. Walker is best known for her cosmetology empire, which made her the first African American female millionaire in the United States. Throughout her career, she cultivated an impeccable record of giving. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, philanthropy served as an important tenet of racial uplift. However, discussions of financial benefactors are often dominated by a narrative in which Black people were passive receivers, and white men, such as Andrew Carnegie and Julius Rosenwald, singlehandedly funded Black progress during the Jim Crow era. Tyrone McKinley Freeman, in this groundbreaking study Madam C. J. Walker's Gospel of Giving: Black Women's Philanthropy During Jim Crow, helps recenter Black philanthropic efforts through a critical examination of Walker's life. According to Freeman, Walker's brand of philanthropy can be best understood through the intersections of class, race, gender, and southern politics and is an important foundation to understanding philanthropy in the twenty-first century.

Madam C. J. Walker's Gospel of Giving contains six chapters that illustrate the broader cultural contexts and philanthropic practices that informed Black women's giving. Freeman examines acts of generosity that existed throughout the Black community, detailing not only their creation of institutions and organizations that focused on racial uplift, but also their labor of service, ability to garner resources, national collaborations, and internal commitment to combating Jim Crow violence and segregation. Among the many approaches to giving, education proved a powerful investment in the advancement of the race.

Walker's beauty schools rose to prominence as Booker T. Washington's industrial approach to education gained notable attention. Freeman details their collaborations while highlighting major differences in their approaches. According to Freeman, Walker's schools offered an urban alternative for migrating Black women and created an industrial model of education that proved more assessable to entrepreneurs. He adds that Walker better understood beauty culture and was more willing than Washington to incorporate urbanization and modernization into her educational philosophy. Walker also had more freedom to expand the realms of industrial education because she relied less on white philanthropy.

One of the text's most insightful arguments is seen through Walker's final will. Freeman reexamines Walker's last will and testament, which has been used to recount her spirit of giving while failing to truly unearth her motivations. Through extensive archival investigation, Freeman uncovers critical elements of Walker's identity, values, and legacy by analyzing the multiple drafts and stipulations she included in her will rather than the actual execution. Due to Walker's posthumous debts and postwar struggles, her final will was significantly altered. For example, her plan to invest monies to start a school in Africa was all but removed. She also made other changes before her death. When her lawyer asked that she reconsider the $50,000 she intended to be split between the NAACP, which was formed in 1909, and her newly formed International League of Darker Peoples (ILDP), which he favored, she all but removed the ILDP from her final will. This revision highlights Walker's capacity to make difficult decisions and the lengthy process she underwent to ensure that she left a legacy that best reflected her beliefs and values.

In summation, by using a diverse body of primary sources, including personal papers, newspapers, and legal transcripts, Freeman crafts a critical text that adds to the growing literature on philanthropy. His work also highlights the important position that Black women played in establishing and sustaining communities and institutions. Madam C. J. Walker's life helps connect the inner workings of Black women to the history of giving and to racial uplift during the Jim Crow era and beyond.