Annie Turnbo Malone (1869-1957) was one of the first African American women to become a millionaire, building her haircare business on a love of high school chemistry and a respect for self-care.
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Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Encyclopedia Womannica.
Today, we’re telling the story of an entrepreneur and inventor. One of the first African-American women to become a millionaire, she built her haircare business on a love of high school chemistry, and a respect for self-care.
Let’s talk about Annie Turnbo Malone.
Annie Minerva Turnbo was born on August 9, 1869, on a farm in Metropolis, Illinois. She was the tenth of eleven children born to Robert and Isabella, who were both formerly enslaved.
When Annie was just a toddler, her parents died in quick succession. She was sent to live with a sister, Ada Moody, in Peoria, Illinois.
Growing up, Annie loved playing with Ada’s hair, and soon graduated to styling her own. But many of the standard hairstyle methods for Black women frustrated Annie. Bacon grease, goose fat, butter, and heavy oils were used to prep hair for straightening, and to add shine. But overuse of these items often led to scalp infections. Stronger methods of straightening hair damaged the follicles.
Though Annie never finished high school, her time there fostered in her an abiding love of chemistry. She hoped to use these chemistry skills to create better hair products for women like her. She felt like there must be a better way for Black women to style their hair, without causing pain or damage. And there had been, of course. But 400 years of slavery and deeply ingrained racism had separated the African-American community from resources and generational knowledge.
By 1900, Annie had created a line of African-American hair care products that she sold locally in Lovejoy, Illinois. It was around this time that she also invented a pressing iron and comb.
Annie’s line focused on encouraging hair growth and on straightening the hair without damaging it. Her main product, the Wonderful Hair Grower, reportedly drew from folk tradition recipes and used sage and egg rinses.
In 1902, Annie relocated to St. Louis. With three assistants, she sold her products door-to-door, often offering on-the-spot treatments to prove their effects. Her success was quick. Within a year, she’d embarked on a tour of the South. In 1904, when the World’s Fair came to St. Louis, she opened her first store. People from around the world were able to sample her line. She started filling orders to the Carribean, as well as across the U.S. It was this kind of business prowess -- along with the use of press conferences, targeted ads, and hiring women to both demonstrate and sell her wares -- that set Annie apart from her competitors.
Around this time, records show that Annie married. But when her husband tried to take control of her business, they divorced. This would not be the last time a man would try to steal Annie’s success.
In 1906, Annie trademarked her company’s new name: Poro. The major impetus for going through the trademark process was a falling out she had with one one of her employees. That employee subsequently left Poro and started her own company using Annie’s original recipe. Her name was Madame C.J. Walker.
Two explanations have since arisen for the Poro name: One is that it was a combination of Annie’s first married name, Pope, and her sister’s, Roberts. “Poro” is also a West African term, one that references an organization devoted to physical and spiritual discipline.
Annie’s motto? “Clean scalps mean clean bodies.”
In 1917, Annie founded Poro Beauty College. It was the first cosmetology school in the country that specialized in Black hair. Though Annie employed 175 people, she helped launch even more careers. Women who graduated from Poro could go on to open their own salons, and run their own businesses. In St. Louis, where Black women were barred from everything except for domestic work, Annie’s institution proved a powerful tool of upward social mobility.
The physical space of Poro Beauty College was important, too. Founded in the Ville, a largely Black neighborhood, Poro featured classrooms, an auditorium, an ice cream parlor, a bakery, a theater, a rooftop garden, and the manufacturing facilities for Poro products. It took up an entire city block. And it quickly became a center of activity and influence within the Black community.
The Poro System, as it came to be known, kept expanding. It’s estimated that, at one point in the 1920s, Annie’s personal wealth was $14 million. Thousands of Poro agents operated across the country. But Annie’s life was far from idyllic.
In 1921, she’d married Aaron Malone, whose last name she adopted. Aaron served as both chief manager and president of the company, and spent much of their marriage plotting to take over Poro.
When they finally divorced in 1927, Aaron argued that the company’s success should be attributed to his social connections that he’d brought to the business. According to him, he deserved half of the company. But Annie’s largesse saved her. Throughout her career, she’d been a generous financial supporter of organizations that benefited Black women. Many of those women, as well as major figures in the larger Black community like Mary Mcleod Bethune, helped to negotiate a settlement in Annie’s favor. Ultimately, Aaron was awarded $200,000, and Annie was affirmed as the exclusive owner of Poro.
Annie moved Poro’s headquarters to Chicago in 1930, once again occupying, and revitalizing, an entire city block. Annie was a famously strict boss, fastidious about her workers’ appearances and comportment. But she was generous to those who followed the rules. Five-year employees received diamond rings. Punctuality and attendance were rewarded with bonuses.
But the devastating legal battle with her ex-husband had drained Annie. She sold her St. Louis property, and struggled to pay real estate and excise taxes on her products.
By 1951, the government seized control of her company. Much of Annie’s money had gone to philanthropic causes by that point, anyway. She regularly wrote $5,000 checks to African-American orphanages. In the 1920s, she gave tens of thousands of dollars to the St. Louis Colored Young Women’s Christian Association, the Tuskegee Institute, and Howard University Medical School. She reportedly supported two students at every African American college in the country.
When she suffered a stroke on May 10, 1957, and died at 87 years old, her fortune had dwindled to $100,000.
Annie Turnbo Malone spent her life building an empire. But with all that she made, all that she built, she reinvested it back into the Black community. Annie knew that haircare was more than just products. It was tied to identity, to history. And mastering it offered a way forward for some African-American women.
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Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!