By Garry Blanson
Annie was born on August 9, 1869, on a farm in Massac County, Illinois (two years after Madam C.J. Walker), near Metropolis, Illinois. After her father left the family to fight for the Union Army in the American Civil War, her mother moved the family to Metropolis, Illinois. Sadly, her father never returned home from the war, and her mother also died, leaving Annie to go and live with her older sister (Ana Moody) in Peoria, Illinois.
Annie’s interest in hair and chemistry got her to experiment with hair products. In 1900, Annie and her siblings moved to Brooklyn, Illinois. There she developed her line of hair care products for Black females. She named her new product “Wonderful Hair Grower.”
Annie recruited other Black women to help sell her products door-to-door. In 1902, she moved her business to St. Louis, Missouri. Many Black People are surprised to find out that before “Madam C.J. Walker” struck out on her own and became a millionaire, she worked as a hair care selling agent for Annie Turnbo Malone.
In 1918, Annie founded Poro College, a cosmetology school and center. The building included a manufacturing plant, a retail store where Poro products were sold, business offices, a 500-seat auditorium, dining and meeting rooms, a roof garden, a dormitory, a gymnasium, a bakery, and chapel (it also served the Black community as a center for religious and social functions).
Poro College employed “NEARLY 200” people in St. Louis. Through its school and franchise businesses, the college created jobs for almost 75,000 women in North and South America, Africa, and the Philippines. She later moved her business to Chicago, Illinois. Additionally, Annie is noted as being one of the wealthiest Black females of her day.
Annie M.T. Malone died in Chicago, Illinois, on May 10, 1957.
In closing, I would like to mention that even during slavery in America, Black People have had their own “BLACK-OWNED” businesses. Booker T. Washington and the organization he founded, The National Negro Business League, even had yearly conventions where Black Business-Owners met and collaborated with one another. Also, between 1901 and his death in 1915, Booker T. Washington took several tours of different towns, cities, and states documenting the progress of Negroes in business (he wrote a “419-page” book called “The Negro in Business”; the book was published in 1907).
His book included details, pictures, and names of many successful Black Business Owners of the era.
