Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance

In this scintillating account, biographer Bundles (On Her Own Ground) revisits the pioneering glamour and cultural patronage of her own great-grandmother, the hair-care heiress and Harlem Renaissance socialite A’Lelia Walker. Born in 1885, A’Lelia spent her early years in poverty until her mother, washerwoman Sarah Breedlove, refashioned herself as Madam C.J. Walker, purveyor of the Wonderful Hair Grower and first self-made woman millionaire. Bringing A’Lelia out from under her mother’s shadow (during her lifetime she faced down unfavorable comparisons to her mother’s business acumen, and the two had a contentious “fire and ice” relationship), Bundles argues that the heiress had a “gift” for “creating distinctive events” that “surprised even blasé New York.” She hosted landmark soirées at her inherited Westchester County mansion and founded both the Walker Salon, “one of Harlem’s most popular venues for private parties,” and the Dark Tower, a cultural salon named after a Countee Cullen poem “where her downtown friends joined her uptown friends.” Bundles shows how A’Lelia’s wide range of guests, from cutting-edge musicians, artists, and poets to high-ranking African Americans in the federal government, created a potent and unprecedented cultural mix. Along the way, she depicts A’Lelia with admiration for her “diva-worthy flamboyance” and, thanks to the familial connection, unmatched intimacy. This brings vibrant life to a luminary described by Langston Hughes as the “joy goddess of Harlem.” (June)