INSIDE VILLA LEWARO

A Zoom conversation with Ambassador Harold Doley, former owner and occupant of North Broadway’s historic mansion.

For 25 years, Harold and Helena Doley lived in the mansion built by the renowned Black entrepreneur, Madame C. J Walker, where they became students of her life and legacy.  Her business acumen is well known.  Less well-known aspects that Ambassador Doley will discuss include: her impact as a philanthropist; her support of civil rights icons W.E.B. DuBois, A. Phillip Randolph and Marcus Garvey; the history of the mansion since her death in 1919; and the future of the Villa and its role in Irvington.

Further reading about Madam Walker’s extraordinary life and the challenges she faced as a successful, Black, female entrepreneur can be found here:

Bundles, A’Lelia, “On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker (Scribner 2002), available at https://aleliabundles.com/on-her-own-ground/

Freeman, Tyrone McKinley, “Madam C.J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving: Black Women’s Philanthropy During Jim Crow” (Univ. of Ill. Press 2020), available at https://gospelofgiving.com/

Randolph, Vivian, “The Rape of Madame C.J. Walker – Her Company’s Unknown Story (Draft Manuscript by past President of Madam C.J. Walker Enterprises, who took over management of the company after control passed from Madam Walker’s family), available at http://doleyfoundation.org/?page_id=9

Smith, Ruth Queen, “Madam C.J. Walker (1867-1919) African American Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Social Change Activist, And Educator of African American Women”, PhD Dissertation (University of Tennessee 2007), available at https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1360&context=utk_graddiss