Madam Walker wasn’t the only Black entrepreneur of the time: of course, there was Annie Turnbo Malone, whose Poro brand predated hers and now became a rival. But many other small Black businesses emerged too, largely because they had to.

So-called Jim Crow laws had racially segregated US businesses such as motels, stores and hairdressers. It meant that if African Americans wanted those services, they had to provide them for themselves. In its discrimination, the state had unwittingly created an opportunity.

Activists like Booker T. Washington (pictured) and his National Negro Business League also encouraged Black enterprise as a means of community advancement, and African Americans responded enthusiastically. Despite difficulties accessing bank loans and mainstream markets, estimates of the number of Black-owned US businesses around the turn of the 20th century range from 10,000 to 40,000.

Of course, this still meant the vast majority of Black Americans had to fall back on menial employment and were generally viewed as second-class citizens. There was still much work for Madam Walker to do.

Madam CJ Walker: America's first self-made female millionaire