Beverly lowry essays

Beverly lowry essays Beverly Lowry, Her Dream of Dreams: The Rise and Triumph of Madam C. J. Walker, [New York: Alfred A Knopf, 2003], 481pp. Beverly Lowry, the author of Her Dream of Dreams, grew up in Greenville, Mississippi, but was born in Memphis, Tennessee on August 10, 1938. Lowry is the author of six novels and two nonfiction books. Lowry is also the director of the Creative Nonfiction Program at George Mason University. She currently resides in Washington, D.C. Beverly Lowry became interested in Madam C.J. Walkers story when she considered doing a novel authorized by the estate of Alex Haley. Lowry purpose for writing the book on Walker was to filter out Walkers thinly documented story and frame it into the roiling race relations of her day. The theme of this book is the life of Madam C.J. Walker. It discusses her road to success in becoming one of the first women of any race to be a millionaire. The historical period the book relates to is the Age of Progressivism. Born Sarah Breedlove on December 10, 1867, Madam C.J. Walker grew up the child of freed slaves, Owen and Minverva Breedlove, on a plantation in Delta, Louisiana. Walker lost her parents at the age of seven, and married for the first time at the age of fourteen. At the age of seventeen, Walker had her first and only child, Lelia. By the age of twenty she was a widow, but married twice again, the last being Charles Joseph Walker. Breedlove went on to adopt his name in 1906, later adding the title Madam, which was custom for woman in business. Wanting a better life for her daughter, as well as, herself, Madam C.J. Walker moved to St. Louis and continued work in the laundry business. With the money she made, she sent Lelia to school to get that education she never received. After working for eighteen years she got to see her daughter graduate from high school and go to college. Madam Walker claim to fortune, was prompted by Walkers hair fall...