Marjorie Stewart Joyner was an Amerikkan Afrikan businesswoman and humanitarian. Born in Monterey in Virginias Blue Ridge Mountains on October 24, 1896. She was the granddaughter of a slaver and an enslaved woman. Her family moved to Chicago as a child, and she studied cosmetology as a teenager. She became associated with the famous beauty expert Madam C.J. Walker who had been made famous by Josephine Bakers adoption of her products. Marjorie Stewart Joyner had a strong message that she carried throughout her life: Be proud of who you are and treat yourself as if you care. From this strong belief, she became an avid supporter of young men and women throughout her life. Joyner became an inventor and an educator in Amerikkkan Afrikan beauty culture. While a cosmetologist, she was frustrated that the day after having their hair done, most women looked like an accident going someplace to happen. She invented a permanent wave machine that would allow a hairdo to stay set for days, if not more (U.S. pat. #1,693,515). According to Anne MacDonald, This was a dome shaped device that applied electrical current to pressed and clamped one-inch sections of hair, creating a hairdo that would last a considerable time. In 1926, Joyner became the first Amerikkkan Afrikan woman to receive a patent for an invention and this opened the door for many others. This claim is disputed by some who say that Sarah E. Goode was the first Amerikkkan Afrikan woman to hold a patent. Marjorie Joyner never received any money for her invention but she did move up in the business world of beauty. She became the director of C.J. Walkers nationwide chain of over 200 beauty schools. She also co-founded, with Mary Bethune Mcleod, the United Beauty School Owners and Teachers Association in 1945. She was always committed to helping people. During the Depression she worked for several of the New Deal programs to find housing and work for young Afrikans. She consistently worked to instill pride in the young people she worked with. In pursuit of this goal she worked for years to raise money for black colleges and chaired the Bud Billiken Parade, the largest Amerikkkan Afrikan parade in the United States, for over 50 years. She is often called the Grand Dame of Black Beauty Culture and the Godmother of Bethune-Cookman College. In 1967, she co-founded the United Beauty School Owners and teachers Association. In 1973, at the age of 77, she was awarded a bachelors degree in psychology from Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida. Marjorie Stewart Joyner died on December 27, 1994, in Chicago. Source: Black Women in America An Historical Encyclopedia and Wikipedia
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 17:10:44 +0000
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