"Madam Carter merged the entrepreneurial with the philanthropic ... [and] engaged in a door-ro-door sale approach, entering black women's homes and teaching them how to care for their hair. She consciously sought out not only well-to-do women with disposable incomes, but poor ones as well ... Madam Carter seized the opportunity offered by entering black women's homes under the nonthreatening guise of selling beauty products, and used it to do race work ... where she could act as a social reformer and establish herself as a true race woman ... After training other women in the beauty trade and in their role as racial uplifters, Madam Carter gathered her sales agents into 'Life Boat clubs,' appropriately named since the clubs 'were designed to save the people in the sections where [the agent] traveled.' These clubs were educational, industrial, and benevolent in nature." From Beauty and Business: Commerce, Gender, and Culture in Modern America, edited by Philip Scranton (New York : Routledge, 2001) p. 174-176., Cora J. Washington was likely one of Madam Carter's sales agents., Original wrappers. Ownership inscription: Ora Patterson. A second ownership inscription has been roughly erased and is undecipherable., Prices for various hair products are listed on page 1, but most of the text is comprised of "lessons" and home remedies for taking care of the skin and hair of African American women., and Title from cover.
Subject (Topic):
Hair preparations, Hair--Care and hygiene, Hairdressing of African Americans--Equipment and supplies, and Skin--Care and hygiene
