Street Named After Madam C. J. Walker and A’Lelia Walker in Harlem

This summer, 136th Street in Harlem was unveiled as Madam C.J. Walker and A’Lelia Walker Way. The two Walkers are the great-(great-)grandmothers of A’Lelia Bundles, their biographer, who is also a member of the Women Creating Change Leadership Council, as well as a Columbia University Trustee.

Bundles has released a book on Madam C.J. Walker under the title On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker. C.J. Walker was a self-made millionaire who developed hair products specifically for black hair. Bundles is currently working on a book of Walker’s daughter, A’Lelia Walker, who was an activist during the Harlem Renaissance.

On Twitter, Bundles writes, “It still is sinking in that thousands will pass this Harlem street sign each year. If even just a few are curious enough to google @MadamCJWalker & A'Lelia Walker aka @JoyGoddessHarlm our work will be worth it.”

Read an interview with Bundles on the occasion of the street unveiling here.