Majorie Joyner (October 24 1896-December 27 1994)

Born in Monterrey in Virgina's Blue Ridge Mountains, she moved to Chicago as a child,studying cosmetology as a teenager.Marjorie became associated with the famous beauty expert Madam C.J. Walker who had been who had been made famous by Josephine Baker's adoption of her products.Majorie had a strong message that she carried throughout her life:Be proud of who you are and treat yourself as if you care.From this strong belief,she became an avid supporter of young man and women throughout her life.She became an inventor and an educator in African-American beauty culture.While a cosmetologist,she was frustrated that the day after having their hair done,most women looked like "an accident going someplace to happen." She invented a permanent wave machine that would allow a hairddo to stay set for days,if not more.According Anne Mcdonald."This a dome shaped device that applied electrical current to pressed and clamped one-inch sections of hair,creating a hairdo that would last a considerable time."In 1926,she became the first African-American woman to receive a patient for an invention but she did move in the business world of beauty.Majorie became the director of C.J. Walker's nationwide chain of beauty schools.She was also co-founded,with Mary Bethume Mcleod,the United Beauty School Owners and Teachers Association in 1945.She was always committed to helping people.During the Depression she worked for several of the New Deal Programs to find housing and work for Young African-Americans.She consistently worked to instill pride in the young people she worked with.In pursuit of this goal she worked for years to raise money for black colleges and chaired the Bud Billiken Parade,the largest African-American parade in the United States,for over fifty years.She is often called "Grand Dame of "Black Beauty Culture."She died in Chicago.