"Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madame C. J. Walker"
Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C. J. Walker debuted on Netflix on March 20 last year and I watched this series almost right away. I just adore Octavia Spencer and I’m trying to watch every movie or series with her. She’s always playing strong female characters who are not afraid to take a risk. I loved “Hidden Figures” and I knew that her role in Netflix’s series would be as good as in that movie. This series was also an opportunity for me to learn more about the situation of dark-skinned people in the USA in last century. I also saw the difficulties of being dark-skinned woman and her fight against prejudice and excluding. I recommend this series to everyone, it’s one of the best series I watched last year.
The series tells a story of Sarah Breedlove, a black woman who struggles with hair loss. She is a poor washer and the effort causes a bald spot on her head. One day she meets Addie who offers a product which help with hair growth. Addie is a mulatto, her mother was raped by a white man, so her skin is much brighter than Sarah’s what in her opinion makes her better. She sells a hair product which is designed for black women’s hair, which are more challenging to care for. This product does wonders on Sarah’s hair and she thinks that she may become a saleswoman of Addie’s product, because she can confirm its effect. Unfortunately, Addie says that she should do the laundry, because no woman would buy a product from someone like her. Sarah is really sad and to prove her worth she takes some samples of this hair specific and tries to sell them. At the beginning, she has no luck, but finally she manages to sell some product by telling her personal story. In spite of this, Addie still refuses to make Sarah a saleswoman. Sarah gets angry, creates her own product and succeeds, she even moves with her family to Indianapolis. Everything is going well, but one day Addie arrives in town. Sarah fears that Addie’s arrival may threaten her business, so she decides to offer people a deal: buy one and get one for free. This is a hit and Sarah’s family has problem to cope with the orders. Sarah’s son-in-law isn’t happy that he needs to help, he wants to became a musician, but this requires money and Sarah is the one who has them. Unfortunately, he causes an accident and their house burns down. Sarah loses almost everything and need to start from the beginning. When Abby is taking over the business, Sarah makes a vow that she will rebuild and creates a brand Madame C. J. Walker. Sarah tries to convince the investors to buy a factory, but she is just a woman, plus she is black. When a famous Booker T. Washington arrives in town Sarah tries to meet with him, but he crashes her hopes and dreams by telling her that a woman will never succeed in business. Fortunately, her speech during Washington’s conference makes that a huge number of women send some money to support Sarah. Sarah opens a factory and her business is developing into big industry, so she decides to send her daughter to New York to take advantage of business opportunity and leaves her husband in Indianapolis. Charles, Sarah’s husband is frustrated, because his wife decides about everything and she is making the money, not him. He finds himself into a love affair with Dora, Sarah’s best saleswoman. Additionally, Addie tries to steal Dora and destroy Sarah’s business. Whan Sarah gets back from New York she discovers everything and again puts her business first. Sarah is expending her brand in New York, but sadly she discovers that she is ill and may die. She convinces her daughter Leila to divorce and marry again, just that the company has an heir. Sarah doesn’t know that Leila is lesbian and has no intention to marry. Whan Sarah is about to make a great deal, Charles arrives out of the blue to finalize their divorce. He wants to marry again and still gets the benefits from the company. Sarah refuses to share the fruits of her hard work, so Charles is blackmailing Sarah. He will confess the true about the formula of the hair product.
I really adore this series, because it shows that you can achieve everything even when the world is against you. Sarah Breedlove/Madame C. J. Walker became America’s first Black, self-made female millionaire. It is important that she made her fortune by herself, her hard work got her there. She overcome a lot of difficulties, not just related to her sex, but also to her skin. The Netflix’s series is a fictionalized history, but based on true facts. We need to learn more about brave woman who made a history. This series has only four episodes, so it won’t take much time, but it is really worth to be seen.
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