ACT English practice test 16

Building a Beauty Empire

In 1867, on an unassuming farm in tiny Delta, Louisiana, a daughter was born to₁ former slaves Minerva and Owen Breedlove. Little did anyone realize that Sarah Breedlove, orphaned at age six when her parents died,₂ would grow up to become one of the most successful African-American entrepreneurs in history.

At twenty, Sarah Breedlove found herself widowed with an infant daughter, A'Lelia. Sarah packed up her few belongings and moved to St. Louis, hoping to take advantage of its'₄ more numerous opportunities.

She supported herself as a laundress there for the next eighteen years. In 1905, she came up with an idea that would revolutionize the cosmetics industry. By ten years,₅ she would not only oversee a vast financial empire but also become one of the best-known women in the United States.

Sarah invented a scalp conditioning and healing formula, in part because she had suffered from a disease that resulted in hair loss. Sarah undertook countless journeys to sell her formula door-to-door. As well as₆ in churches and lodges. She dubbed herself Madame C. J. Walker, taking the name of her second husband, Charles J. Walker, who worked in the newspaper publishing business and who also lived in St. Louis.₇ She claimed that the secret formula for Madame Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower had come to her in a dream.

At this time, there were relatively few beauty parlors, so many women received beauty treatments at home. Sarah taught her methods to other women, they₈ focused on sales and became known as the "Walker Agents." Below₉ Sarah's supervision, these agents became familiar sights in their white shirts and black skirts. Sarah called them "scalp specialists" and hair and beauty "culturist" using₁₀ these terms to emphasize the professional nature of the treatments.

[1] In 1913, she traveled to the Caribbean and to Central America, but before that₁₁ Sarah concentrated on improving and developing the manufacture of her products. [2] One of the first of these charitable acts was her generous $1,000 donation to the city's YMCA. [3] In 1910, she established the Walker Company headquarters—which featured a factory in addition to salons and a training school—in Indianapolis. [4] Chosen₁₂ because it was then the largest inland manufacturing city in the country, Indianapolis became both Sarah's home and the first beneficiary of her social activism and dedication to charitable causes.

Social efforts dominated the latter years of Sarah's life. She contributed the largest donation to the effort to save Frederick Douglass's home, maintaining,₁₄ the building as a historical museum. In 1913, she organized her agent-operators into "Walker Clubs," promoting these groups' philanthropic work by offering cash prizes to those doing the most good in their communities. Upon her death in 1919, "Madame Walker"—now often regarded as the richest self-made woman in the United States during her lifetime—donated two-thirds of her company's net profit to charitable causes.₁₅

Building a Beauty Empire

In 1867, on an unassuming farm in tiny Delta, Louisiana, a daughter was born to¹ former slaves Minerva and Owen Breedlove. Little did anyone realize that Sarah Breedlove, orphaned at age six when her parents died,² would grow up to become one of the most successful African-American entrepreneurs in history.

At twenty, Sarah Breedlove found herself widowed with an infant daughter, A'Lelia. Sarah packed up her few belongings and moved to St. Louis, hoping to take advantage of its'⁴ more numerous opportunities.

She supported herself as a laundress there for the next eighteen years. In 1905, she came up with an idea that would revolutionize the cosmetics industry. By ten years,⁵ she would not only oversee a vast financial empire but also become one of the best-known women in the United States.

Sarah invented a scalp conditioning and healing formula, in part because she had suffered from a disease that resulted in hair loss. Sarah undertook countless journeys to sell her formula door-to-door. As well as⁶ in churches and lodges. She dubbed herself Madame C. J. Walker, taking the name of her second husband, Charles J. Walker, who worked in the newspaper publishing business and who also lived in St. Louis.⁷ She claimed that the secret formula for Madame Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower had come to her in a dream.

At this time, there were relatively few beauty parlors, so many women received beauty treatments at home. Sarah taught her methods to other women, they⁸ focused on sales and became known as the ""Walker Agents."" Below⁹ Sarah's supervision, these agents became familiar sights in their white shirts and black skirts. Sarah called them ""scalp specialists"" and hair and beauty ""culturists"" using¹⁰ these terms to emphasize the professional nature of the treatments.

[1] In 1913, she traveled to the Caribbean and to Central America, but before that¹¹ Sarah concentrated on improving and developing the manufacture of her products. [2] One of the first of these charitable acts was her generous $1,000 donation to the city's YMCA. [3] In 1910, she established the Walker Company headquartersâwhich featured a factory in addition to salons and a training schoolâin Indianapolis. [4] Chosen¹² because it was then the largest inland manufacturing city in the country, Indianapolis became both Sarah's home and the first beneficiary of her social activism and dedication to charitable causes.

Social efforts dominated the latter years of Sarah's life. She contributed the largest donation to the effort to save Frederick Douglass's home, maintaining,¹⁴ the building as a historical museum. In 1913, she organized her agent-operators into ""Walker Clubs,"" promoting these groups' philanthropic work by offering cash prizes to those doing the most good in their communities. Upon her death in 1919, ""Madame Walker""ânow often regarded as the richest self-made woman in the United States during her lifetimeâdonated two-thirds of her company's net profit to charitable causes.

English practice 16