The story of Madam C.J. Walker will finally be told for audiences across the world. The story of America’s first Black millionaire, building her wealth through entrepreneurship through beauty and hair care products, will be told in a Netflix series starring 46 year-old Oscar winning actress Octavia Spencer.
The announcement for the new series came Sunday evening from the streaming platform.
The show is executive produced in part by Spencer and LeBron James, and based on the book On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker, written by Walker’s great-great-granddaughter A’Lelia Bundles.
Madam C.J. Walker usually gets honorable mention annually during Black History Month, but she is not recognized for her achievements much beyond that. Walker was born, Sarah Breedlove in Louisiana to former slaves in 1867. She was orphaned at age 7 and was working by the age of 10. By age 14 she was married and by age 20 she was a widow.
The show will be co-run by Claws showrunner Janine Sherman Barrois, with a script written by Nicole Asher. Eve’s Bayou writer and director Kasi Lemmons will serve as both an executive producer and director of the first episode.
No word yet when the Netflix series will premiere.
Netflix had this to say at the Television Critics Association press tour:
This is the untold and highly irreverent story of and how she overcame hostile turn-of-the-century America, epic rivalries, tumultuous marriages and some trifling family to become America’s first black, self-made female millionaire.
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