Before Madam C.J. Walker and Annie Turnbo Malone succeeded in the beauty industry in the early 20th century, Christiana Carteaux Bannister, a woman of African-American and Narragansett Indian heritage, had already achieved success as a hair stylist (and wigmaker) in pre-Civil War America. Carteaux Bannister was born Christiana Babcock in Rhode Island circa 1820. After moving to Boston in the 1840s, she became a skilled hairdresser (or “hair doctress,” as stylists were known at the time). Following a failed marriage that gave her the last name Carteaux, she went into business as Madame Carteaux. Read More……
