95. Madam C.J. Walker's Gospel of Giving: Black Women's Philanthropy During Jim Crow - Tyrone McKinley Freeman, Ph.D.

Professional DevelopmentMental HealthLeadership

Mar 24

Tyrone McKinley Freeman, Ph.D. / Madam C.J. Walker's Gospel of Giving

This episode is part of our 5-episode Women of Impact Week. Explore all the episodes and find additional resources here.

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Overview

Meet Meet Dr. Freeman. This award-winning scholar and Assistant Professor at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy has an incredible story to tell. Which prompts us to introduce the incomparable Madam C.J. Walker, the trailblazer for black women philanthropists. Dr. Freeman research focuses on the history of African American philanthropy and his latest book is entitled, Madam C.J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving: Black Women’s Philanthropy during Jim Crow. Confession: we all cried in this episode. This story has power, and we promise you'll be a better human for hearing it.

Today’s Guest

Tyrone McKinley Freeman, Ph.D., Author, Madam C.J. Walker's Gospel of Giving and Assistant Professor of Philanthropic Studies; Director of Undergraduate Programs at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

“I think it’s part of black people’s gift to America, in terms of demonstrating this generosity in spite of. Not letting the hate, the evil turn you away from who you are. Giving and engaging still, and in the process demonstrating a love of country and a love of humanity.”

— Dr. Tyrone Freeman, Author, Madam C.J. Walker's Gospel of Giving

Episode Transcript

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Episode Highlights

Dr. Freeman’s story and dedication to philanthropy - 3:54
Meet Madam C.J. Walker - 9:13
3 key values learned from Madam C.J. Walker: Give as you can, spare no useful means, and give more as your means increase - 16:40
The impact Madam C.J. Walker’s legacy has had on Dr. Freeman’s life - 21:50
Dr. Freeman’s work: Who counts as a philanthropist and what counts as philanthropy? - 24:09
African American philanthropy and philanthropy leaders of color challenge the conventional definitions of philanthropy throughout history - 24:12
A powerful moment of philanthropy in Dr. Freeman’s Life - 35:02
Dr. Freeman’s One Good Thing: Give along the way. - 39:45

Powerful Quotes:

“I like to think of as teaching as philanthropy and the ways in which they viewed me as more than a number, they wanted to help me catch the vision of who I could become and wanted to speak positive things into me and challenge me to pursue my dreams.” - Dr. Freeman

“It's just a beautiful thing that you have come into the nonprofit space into the fundraising space because someone with your heart and your curiosity can truly revolutionize what we are trying to do in a big way.” - Becky

“The real important thing here is not that she went on to become a millionaire was that she saw herself as someone who had a responsibility to her community, she saw herself who had to bring her resources to bear in the struggle for freedom.” - Dr. Freeman

“She spoke truth to power, she was a part of the anti-lynching movement, the women's voting rights movement, the temperance movement. She recognized the power of her celebrity and her influence, and spoke up regularly for these issues.” - Dr. Freeman

“She didn't spend her life accumulating wealth, and it later turned to philanthropy as some of the many storied philanthropists did.” - Dr. Freeman

“So I think she's a very accessible model of philanthropy that any of us can gravitate towards. Because it's not about wealth. It's simply about generosity.” - Dr. Freeman

“That's why the book is called Madam C.J. Walker's Gospel of Giving. That's my articulation of her philosophy because she didn't write about it, which is, interesting. She was just doing it.” - Dr. Freeman

“In an effort to try to get a sense of why she gave what she was giving, how she gave, I came up with three ways of thinking about it. So the first is to give as you can, and then this is the value of the idea that no matter your situation, there's somebody that can benefit from something that you have.” - Dr. Freeman

“One thing I didn't want to do is I didn't want the millionaire label, to cause us to put her on a pedestal separate and apart from her community. Yes, she did have a mansion, she had cars, she enjoyed the fruits of her labor, but she also very much saw herself as somebody grounded in the community.” - Dr. Freeman

“I think what you said, is so powerful because when people think about philanthropy, I think it's just natural for them to think about giving monetarily and it's so much bigger than that. And this concept of everyone can benefit from something that you have, whether it's your voice, and she was living this, which is what I love.” - Becky

“It's in the generosity of our mothers, it's in the generosity of our aunts - the little things that they do. These are the things that don't make the headlines in the newspaper, but they're very philanthropic.” - Dr. Freeman

“I have found African American philanthropy and philanthropy leaders of color as a great way to pursue those questions because they do challenge these conventional definitions.” - Dr. Freeman

“In every era, there's evidence that activity of black people asserting themselves trying to take care of themselves, speaking truth to power, whether it's the abolition movement, the anti-lynching movement, or the civil rights movements, and now Black Lives Matter, there's just an incredible history and thread of the struggle for liberation.” - Dr. Freeman

“African American philanthropy is something that has existed from the beginning of their American experience here. It was used to meet needs within the community, it was also used to speak truth to power and try to bring down systems and to change and make America better.” - Dr. Freeman

“I think it's part of black people's gift to America, in terms of demonstrating this generosity in spite of. Not letting the hate, the evil turn you away from who you are. Giving in spite of. Giving and engaging still, and in the process demonstrating a love of country and a love of humanity.” - Dr. Freeman

“It stuck with me because it speaks to this idea of words like gifts, it speaks to this idea of the power of words to build up or to tear down, you know, words can start wars, or they can bring about peace.” - Dr. Freeman’s One Philanthropic Moment

“I feel like the conversation today is that philanthropy is so much bigger, more beautiful, more all encompassing, more inclusive, and needs all of us to speak into it and to lean into it in whatever way and gifting position you're in today.” - Jon

“Don't wait to give along the way. Do what you can with what you have. We need you. We need your energy, we need your strength, we need your words, we need your, your talents, it's really all hands on deck.” - Dr. Freeman’s One Good Thing

“If you can just help one. That's enough. Someday we may be the one receiving it.” - Becky

“I also want to thank you for being a man who would take on women's philanthropy and champion it in the way that you did. Because I think that is so important.” - Becky

“I'm indebted to these black women's historians who had done a lot of that work but had not really connected it to philanthropy. And so it's been a joy to be in conversation with them. And I feel privileged to have been in conversation with them in order to do that work. And I hope that it leads inspire somebody else to do more and go even further, and expand that because we need more.” - Dr. Freeman