Black Business Month - A’Lelia Bundles Discusses Joy Goddess
Brooklyn Public Library presents JOY GODDESS: Black Beauty + The Harlem Renaissance as a thematic experience exploring how A’Lelia Walker (Madam C.J. Walker’s Daughter & Heir) helped define the spirit, style, and creativity of one of the most influential artistic movements in American history.
In celebration of America's 250th anniversary, this book discussion and creative endeavor offers a counter-narrative to the country's development and brilliance. At its center is A'Lelia Walker's story — explored through Bundles' new book, archival references, and contemporary interpretations — as both architect and catalyst of the Harlem Renaissance.
Bundles traces how her great-grandmother's influence extended well beyond the famed Dark Tower gatherings into the broader aesthetic codes of the era: beauty, fashion, music, and performance. A'Lelia Walker emerges not simply as an heir to a legacy, but as a force who transformed Black creativity into a national cultural movement and, thereby, reframing American identity itself. In doing so, the experience invites audiences to reconsider the foundations of American artistry, placing Black beauty at its forefront.
This event is in partnership with READY to BEAUTY, The Industry’s First Global Think Tank for Multicultural Entrepreneurs & Brands
Joy Goddess is available to borrow from the Brooklyn Public Library here.
Joy Goddess is available to purchase from Brooklyn Public Library retail partner Cafe con Libros.
#JoyGoddess #BlackBeauty #MadamCJWalker
PARTICIPANTS
Speaker
A’Lelia Bundles is the author of Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance, the first major biography of her great-grandmother, and On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker, a New York Times Notable Book and bestseller about her great-great-grandmother, an early 20th century hair care industry entrepreneur and philanthropist. She is the founder of the Madam Walker Family Archives, the largest private collection of Walker photographs, memorabilia, and ephemera. A’Lelia worked in network television news for thirty years, first as a producer at NBC News, and then at ABC News where she was a Washington, DC deputy bureau chief and director of talent development. She is a former vice chair of Columbia University’s Board of Trustees and former board chair of the National Archives Foundation. She is a member of several non-profit boards that reflect her interests in journalism, social justice, and historic preservation including the March On! Festival, the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women at Harvard Radcliffe Institute and Columbia Global Reports.
A recipient of an Emmy and a du Pont Gold Baton for her television news work, she is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Moderator
Kaitlyn Greenidge is currently the Features Director at Harper’s Bazaar. Her debut novel We Love You, Charlie Freeman (Algonquin Books) was one of the New York Times Critics' Top 10 Books of 2016. Kaitlyn's writings have appeared in Vogue, Glamour, the Wall Street Journal, Elle, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Believer, American Short Fiction and other places. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Whiting Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University and the Guggenheim Foundation. And her second novel, Libertie, is published by Algonquin Books and was a New York Times Notable Book of 2022. Her third novel is forthcoming from Flatiron Books.
This program is part of the Business and Career Center's Black Business month celebration. To honor black businesses also check out our Friday Film Club: Invisible Beauty (2023) program.
BPL's Business & Career Center programs are generously supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York, Citizens, Data Axle Reference Solutions, Dime Community Bank, Dr. Beverly S. Jacobs, Goldman Sachs Gives through a grant recommended by Goldman Sachs, Google,org, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, and Ridgewood Savings Bank.
Staff Picks
- Inspired By Joy Goddess: A'Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance by A'Lelia Bundles
