Madam C.J. Walker Building in Indianapolis
Walker Company sales began to suffer in 1929, with the beginning of the Great Depression. Increased expenses associated with a new million dollar headquarters and manufacturing facility opened in late 1927 in Indianapolis, Indiana, placed additional financial pressure on the operation. Today the building is known as the Madam Walker Theatre Center and is a National Historic Landmark.
Mae Walker was president of the company from 1931 until her death in 1945. Mae's daughter, A'Lelia Mae Perry Bundles (1928–1976), succeeded her mother as president of the company. A'Lelia Mae Perry Bundles's daughter, A'Lelia Bundles, (1952- ) is an author and journalist as well as Madam Walker's biographer.
The Madam C. J. Walker Company moved from the building in 1985 and the trustees of the Walker estate transferred the building to a non-profit group called the Madam Walker Urban Life Center. Today the building houses a cultural arts organization, is the anchor of the Indiana Avenue Cultural District and is known as the Madame Walker Theatre Center. Its current president is Dr. Terry Whitt Bailey.
Read more about this topic: A'Lelia Walker
Famous quotes containing the words madam, walker and/or building:
“Come, madam wife, sit by my side
And let the world slip. We shall ne’er be younger.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The gift of loneliness is sometimes a radical vision of society or one’s people that has not previously been taken into account.”
—Alice Walker (b. 1944)
“And of the other things death is a new office building filled with modern furniture,
A wise thing, but which has no purpose for us.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)