The Walker Business
While Charles Walker stayed in Denver and promoted the hair care products, Madam Walker sold her products door-to-door there, and then began traveling to parts of the South and East to demonstrate and sell the products, finding a larger market. She moved from personally selling the products to demonstrating them to others she called agents and training them in how to use and sell them. These agents often operated their own beauty care businesses, from which they sold the products and used the Walker system, and through encouraging these small entrepreneurships, Madam Walker's business continued to grow. Charles Walker resisted further expansion of the business, and they separated.
By 1908, Madam Walker had established Lelia College in Pittsburgh to train beauticians in using the Walker System. Lelia moved to Pittsburgh to manage the business in that area. When Madam C. J. Walker visited Indianapolis, she realized that its location and access to transportation systems made it the right place for company headquarters, and she moved the offices there. She built a manufacturing plant in Indianapolis at the headquarters, and added training and research facilities. She divorced Charles Walker in 1912.
Madam C. J. Walker hired Freeman Random to run the Indianapolis operation in 1913, and at Lelia's urging, Madam Walker opened a second Lelia College there.
Walker Clubs
Madam Walker organized agent-operators into Walker Clubs, helping them not just become successful in the hair care business but also in charitable work and community service. The first national convention of Walker agents was held in 1917, a year when the business was grossing $500,000.
Walker hair care businesses allowed many women in the African American community to achieve economic success. In some cases, for instance that of A. Philip Randolph and his wife, it allowed the husbands to engage in careers or activism or take stands (in his case, union organizing) where they might be fired from their jobs.
In 1916 Madam Walker herself moved to New York City and joined Lelia there in a grand townhouse. She then built an even grander and more opulent mansion on more than four acres along the Hudson, and called this home "Villa Lewaro."
Madam C. J. Walker's Death and Legacy
Active in charitable work herself, Madam C.J. Walker died in 1919 after suffering a stroke or heart attack after speaking at an anti-lynching meeting. She left a large fortune, over a million dollars, giving two-thirds to groups like the NAACP, churches, and Bethune-Cookman College, and one third to her daughter, Lelia Walker, who renamed herself A'Lelia Walker. Mary McLeod Bethune gave the eulogy at her well-attended funeral, and A'Lelia Walker became president of the Walker business operation, continuing its growth.
Bibliography:
A'Lelia Bundles [great-great-granddaughter of Madam C. J. Walker]. On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker. 2001. 
Beverly Lowry. Her Dream of Dreams: The Rise and Triumph of Madam C. J. Walker. 2003.
Children's Books about Madam C. J. Walker:
- A'Lelia Bundles. Madam C. J. Walker: Entrepreneur. 1991.
- Pat McKissack. Madam C. J. Walker: Self-Made Millionaire. 1992.
- Marian Taylor. Madam C. J. Walker. 1993.
- Penny Colman. Madame C. J. Walker: Building a Business Empire. 1994.
- Marlene Toby. Madam C. J. Walker: Pioneer Businesswoman. 1995.
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