Somewhere between the 1920’s and 1930’s (we’re still trying to pinpoint an exact date), Big Mama opened a beauty school with an accompanying salon and women’s toggery shop. She traveled across the country and the world visiting Paris and London, educating herself on the latest styles and trends and bringing her knowledge back to grow her business. But beauty was just the tip of her hustle.
Big Mama was a businesswoman. Self-made and self-sustained. She took entrepreneurship to new heights. We’re talking about investing in real estate and owning property like the building that housed Twilight Beauty Shop and School, an events hall, and even the house next door which she rented out to “roomers”. Back then, my Dad and Uncle Lucky would work the events hall and stock the toggery shop.
And she didn’t stop there. In a community with limited access to banking, Big Mama stepped in on many occasions, co-signing loans and working to provide accessible housing to families. She also rented rooms to students attending the local Historically Black University. My Dad has memories of people getting paid in brown envelopes full of cash that they kept under mattresses during that time. Mostly business owners had bank accounts which left many people out to fend for themselves. By stepping in, Big Mama was addressing a vital socio-economic need and my dad was able to see firsthand the social structures in place and the impact Big Mama had.
Twilight was more than a beauty school and salon. It was an enterprise. Can we take a moment to let that sink in? An enterprise, providing employment opportunities, educating hundreds of beauty school students, and supporting the economic development of her community as a black woman during the Jim Crow era and beyond.
Twilight Beauty Shop and School thrived for over 40 years as a family business. Big Mama was entrepreneur. She was an educator. She was a mentor to countless young people. A supporter of fellow entrepreneurs and African-American cosmetology school owners, and a beacon preparing students for their careers and their futures.
A LEGACY CUT SHORT
As our history has shown time and time again, black success is always accompanied by a system determined to limit it. By the early 1980’s Big Mama and many of the black women who owned and operated beauty schools became a target of our prejudiced system. The State Board of Cosmetology began to put pressure on African-American cosmetology schools with the sole purpose to retrieve the licenses of black schools and sell them to their white competitors.
Big Mama and other black cosmetology schools were called to appear for the board for minor infractions in order to pressure them to sell. There were even members of the cosmetology board negotiating the sales between the black school owners and the white owners looking to purchase their licenses. It was only a matter of time before Big Mama was cited for having 8 of the 10 student minimum enrollment. She was given 90 days to make a choice: enroll more students or sell. With little time and little support, Big Mama was ultimately forced to sell the license for Twilight Beauty Shop and School. Her early retirement wasn’t an anomaly amongst the black community. Most of her fellow African-American cosmetology school owners faced the same decision while white owners remained in operation despite having many of the same shortcomings.