Make America Great Again! If I were to say this in a room full of liberals both black and white, I’d be hard pressed to get anything short of stoning. On the other hand, adding “Black” to the moniker would only make the audience dig even deeper, shouting, “When has America ever been great for black people?” America has been great for all people who took advantage of their God-given talents. A nation of freedom of speech, a right to bear arms, and a pursuit of happiness. Just like 10 people looking through the same window, it’s all about your perception.

In a time where Jim Crow laws were being upheld by our state legislatures and segregation was the law of the land, one black woman decided enough was enough. Born the sixth child in her family, but the first not born in slavery, Sarah Breedlove arrived in the world on December 23, 1867. You may not recognize her name, but she would become a self-made businesswoman named Madam C. J. Walker. She developed a line of haircare products and cosmetics and became the first female millionaire in America.

How in the world could she become a millionaire in the so called “white America”? What about all the barriers to economic freedom that blacks had to endure? Could it be that Madame C.J. Walker didn’t see herself as a poor, black girl in America? She had the audacity to believe.

“I had to make my own living and my own opportunity. But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.”

“If I have accomplished anything in life it is because I have been willing to work hard.”

“I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. From there I was promoted to the washtub. From there I was promoted to the cook kitchen. And from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations. I have built my own factory on my own ground.”

“I am not merely satisfied in making money for myself, for I am endeavoring to provide employment for hundreds of women of my race. … I want to say to every Negro woman present, don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them!”

“I got my start by giving myself a start.”

“I am not ashamed of my past. I am not ashamed of my humble beginning.”

A black woman with parents and siblings born into slavery managed to become a self-motivated entrepreneur, which made her into a self-made millionaire. Sounds like she “pulled herself up by the bootstraps.” Tell many in the liberal black community today to take personal responsibility or make better educational choices for their children and they look to find every excuse to blame “the white man.” But Madame C.J. Walker destroys the victim narrative of the modern-day black American. She wouldn’t dare sit back and wait for someone to do for her what she knew to do for herself.

Make Black America Great Again!