Community Link: Madam Walker Legacy Center
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Each week in Community Link, Carolene Mays and Marco Dominguez take a look at an organization or business that is making a positive impact on the community.
This week, Dominguez and Mays were joined by Kristian Little Stricklen, president of the Madam Walker Legacy Center in Indianapolis.
The Madam Walker Legacy Center is dedicated to preserving the legacy of African American entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker.
Walker established the headquarters for the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company on West Street in Indianapolis in 1910 and made her fortune selling cosmetics and haircare products for Black women.
“Madam Walker was the first self-made female millionaire and she built a lot of that legacy right here in Indianapolis, right downtown on Indiana Avenue,” Little Stricklen said. “It’s so important for us to be able to uplift her her legacy [and] her story.”
The Madam Walker Legacy Center is celebrating its 95th anniversary this year, says Little Stricklen.
“Today, it is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3), and we have four pillars that we do all of our work to uplift Madam’s full legacy — entrepreneurship, social justice, women’s equity, and, of course, arts and entertainment,” Little Stricklen said. “Over the years, that building has been so much to so many; it has been the office space for many African American attorneys and doctors.”
To watch the entire segment, click on the video.