In 1913, newly widowed Lucille Campbell Green couldn’t support herself on a teacher’s salary – and she did NOT want to be dependent on a man!
There was an opening at Lelia Beauty College, newly founded by entrepreneur Madame C.J. Walker. She was ready for a new beginning – but it turned into SO much more.
She enrolled, learning both the beauty and business side of things with Madame Walker’s mentorship. After graduating, Green opened an elite salon, unaware that its future functions would get her branded the “second most dangerous Negro in America!”
Green married A. Philip Randolph, a known champion for the Black working class. Green’s income supported them, simultaneously funding and redistributing Randolph’s socialist newspaper.
His paper, The Messenger, was known as "one of the most brilliantly edited magazines in the history of American Negro journalism,” marking the couple as influential leaders within the labor movement.
Green not only funded her husband's endeavors but was an activist in her own right, up until her death in 1963. Her husband, who went on to be an integral labor and civil rights activist, acknowledged that none of his work would’ve been possible without his wife’s support.
Lucille Campbell Green Randolph used her business skills to invest in the Black community. Like her, we must be conscious entrepreneurs, supporting and giving back in whatever way we can!