Woodlawn Cemetery–Burial Place of Madam Walker–Designated National Historic Landmark

Burial site of Madam C. J. Walker and A’Lelia Walker at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx

June 30, 2011:  Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced that The Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx–where entrepreneur Madam C. J. Walker and her Harlem Renaissance arts patron daughter, A’Lelia Walker, are buried–has been designated a National Historic Landmark, the highest recognition accorded to the nation’s most historically significant properties.

There are two other National Historic Landmarks associated with the legacy of the Walker women: The Madam Walker Theatre Center, a cultural arts organization in Indianapolis, and Villa Lewaro, the home Madam Walker built in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York in 1918. Villa Lewaro was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The Walker Theatre was added to the National Register in 1991.

Madam Walker died on May 25, 1919 at Villa Lewaro, where her funeral was held on May 30. Among the pallbearers were New York Age publisher Fred Moore, composer J. Rosamond Johnson, and Alpha Phi Alpha founder Vertner Tandy, Villa Lewaro’s architect.

Pallbearers for Madam Walker’s 1919 Funeral (Madam Walker Family Archives/www.aleliabundles.com)

A’Lelia Walker,who held a private ceremony for her mother at Woodlawn on June 3, 1919, was herself buried there in August 1931. (more…)

Serendipity: Family Photos

Walker Family Photos (A’Lelia Bundles’s Walker Family Archives)

Doing the research about the women in my family brings many incredibly serendipitous moments. Last fall out of the blue I received a call from a gentleman who had purchased these photos at an auction. My best guess is that they had been left behind in a dresser that once had belonged to my grandmother, Mae Walker Perry. I actually already had all of the photos except one, but (more…)

Flashback: Villa Lewaro, Madam Walker’s New York Estate

Madam Walker agents at their 1924 convention

View Part One of the video: HGTV Villa Lewaro

View all five parts.

In celebration of the United Negro College Fund’s 1998 Designer Showhouse at Villa Lewaro, Madam C. J. Walker’s Irvington-on-Hudson, NY estate, HGTV produced this hour documentary. You can learn more about the house at www.madamwalkerestate.com and on urban planner and preservationist Deena Parham’s blog Urban by Design.

You might also find a post about Madam Walker’s May 1919 funeral at Villa Lewaro on our Madam Walker/A’Lelia Walker Family Archives blog of interest.

For more information about Madam Walker, visit www.madamcjwalker.com