Robert O. French Papers

Biographical Notes

Annie Minerva Turnbo (Pope) Malone

Annie Turnbo Malone (1869-1957), founder of Poro College and Poro beauty products, was one of America’s earliest and most successful African American beauty culture entrepreneurs. Before African American women had access to professional hair care and products, she had invented her own hair care preparations and equipment, after which she devised a worldwide franchise system of marketing. By the mid-1920s her Poro enterprise had made Malone one of the wealthiest African Americans in the country, and she was nationally known for her munificent philanthropy to African American churches, community organizations and institutions of higher learning.

Malone was born Annie Minerva Turnbo on or about August 9, 1869, the youngest of 11 children of Robert and Isabella (Cook) Turnbo, on their farm outside Metropolis, Ill. Her parents, who had almost certainly been born into slavery, both died before she was old enough for school. She was raised by older siblings, particularly a sister, Laura Roberts, and she demonstrated talent and interest in hair care from an early age. Malone later recalled having moved to a sister’s in Peoria in order to attend the high school, but withdrawing from school after but a couple of years because of illness. She described her fascination with chemistry, which led to her creating and testing various hair care formulas until she had perfected her “Wonderful Hair Grower.” The free demonstrations she offered soon brought her many orders to fill. During the next decade Malone recruited family to help, sold products door-to-door, and moved her business to Lovejoy, Ill., (now Brooklyn) and thence across the Mississippi River to St. Louis in time for the 1904 World’s Fair. In 1902 she married Nelson Pope, described as a Spanish-American War veteran and janitor, but that marriage was short-lived.

Located in “The Ville,” St. Louis’ most affluent African American neighborhood, Malone’s hair care enterprise thrived. Such neighborhoods burgeoned in the first three decades of the 20th century, as African American migration made this the “golden age of black business” within a segregated Jim Crow social economy, especially for entrepreneurs in larger cities with growing concentrations of African Americans. The relatively lucrative business of black beauty products attracted other ambitious women, notably Madam C. J. Walker (Sarah Breedlove) and Sarah Spencer Washington, also fabulously successful. Walker began as a Poro agent and was accused by Poro of marketing Poro products as her own. To protect her investment, Malone in 1906 devised the trademark name “Poro,” later described as a compound of the first two letters of “Pope” and “Roberts.” She also obtained patents for her products. Meanwhile, training of Poro agents and beauticians was expanded to a full cosmetology curriculum and certification was devised to guarantee authenticity of the products they alone were allowed to sell. By 1926 Malone had opened Poro College branches in nearly two dozen of the largest U.S. cities and boasted some 75,000 agents in the Eastern and Western hemispheres.

In 1918 Malone opened in St. Louis her block-long, five-story, $300,000 Poro College building that housed classrooms, laboratories, dormitories, offices, apartments, travel accommodations, dining facilities, a large auditorium and the legendary roof garden. Poro immediately became the hub of “The Ville,” as well as mecca for nationwide religious, artistic and social gatherings at a time when African Americans were denied accommodations and venues available to whites.

Before the Depression, Poro beauty culture operators could earn more than 10 times a domestic servant’s wages, and more than once Malone was forced to flee irate white employers after a successful Poro recruitment tour south of the Mason-Dixon line. Such experiences inspired Malone to dedicate her work to “better the condition of [my] people.” A gifted speaker and writer, she taught not only the techniques and products of beauty care but (in her words) “dignity, grace, beauty, industry, thrift, godliness… ideals that should be held aloft for the glorification of the women and girls of my race.” Such ideals saw material substance in Poro’s empowerment of African American women who had been restricted from all but the most menial of jobs in the larger white community. Furthermore, Poro agents could improve the welfare of their own communities by organizing “Poro Clubs”—democratic community service organizations that also linked agents to Poro headquarters.

Malone counted esteemed African Americans as her colleagues and supporters: newspaper publishers Robert Abbott and the Claude Barnetts; Thomas A. Dorsey and countless other musicians, Chicago attorney Edith Sampson, Tuskegee’s Booker T. Washington and Oberlin College’s Hallie Q. Brown; and national leaders from the A.M.E. and other churches. In 1922 Kittrell College in North Carolina awarded Malone an honorary master of arts, and in 1931 she was awarded another from Howard University, whose medical school had previously received $10,000 of Malone’s philanthropy. Although Poro competed with Madame C. J. Walker’s own beauty empire, Walker’s Chicago agent Marjorie Stewart Joyner and Bethune-Cookman College founder Mary McCleod Bethune both worked with Malone on national issues such as beauty parlor licensing. In St. Louis, Malone’s financial support and active board membership were critical in building a new facility for the Colored Children’s Home in 1922. That institution was re-named the Annie Malone Children’s Home in 1946. Malone herself served actively in the A.M.E. church, the Republican Party, the WCTU and the (National) Businessman’s League throughout most of her life.

Annie Turnbo Pope had remarried (c. 1916), to Aaron E. Malone, a childhood schoolmate, whom she installed as president of Poro while remaining fully in control as Poro’s founder. In 1927 their divorce involved a struggle in court for the Poro enterprise, for which Annie Malone received much public support and ultimately the Poro business largely intact. But financial losses from this and from the arrival of the Great Depression may have contributed to Malone’s 1930 decision to move Poro headquarters to Chicago, which already had a strong Poro branch and wider marketing potential.

Poro continued to flourish as a beauty school and culture business throughout the Depression and even World War II—while serving as gathering spot for fine arts, service and professional groups. Key organizations in the struggle for equality, such as the Chicago Urban League and the NAACP, held meetings there. However, Malone’s refusal to pay a 20 percent federal excise tax instituted in the 1920s—as well as local property taxes—caught up with her in 1951 when federal receivership took over the Poro business and properties were lost in foreclosure. Community support for her was vocal but did not produce financial assistance. Two of Malone’s nephews were able to restore Poro’s product line, which sold for at least another 20 years. However, the African American beauty culture business itself transformed, as mass advertising replaced door-to-door outreach, as white-owned corporations marketed beauty products to black women and as new middle-class employment opportunities for women appeared outside of the African American community. Malone died May 10, 1957, in Chicago’s Provident Hospital, her age given as 87 and her estate listed as $100,000. She was buried in Burr Oak Cemetery in Worth, Ill. Both Poro College in St. Louis and the Poro Block in Chicago were subsequently demolished. But Poro beauty operators and their Poro Clubs persisted; the last Poro College, in Cincinnati, is said to have closed in 1989.

Robert O. French

Robert O. French was born in 1923 in Annie Turnbo Malone’s hometown of Metropolis, Ill. His mother’s family was descended from Malone’s Turnbo ancestors.

From the beginning, Malone recruited and hired family members, including her siblings and their descendents, to work in her Poro business at various St. Louis locations. When Malone moved Poro headquarters from St. Louis to Chicago’s south side in 1930, several family members joined in the move. Family continued to be employed there, including French, who began working there in 1946, beginning as switchboard operator and gradually gaining experience in doing “everything,” including class registrar. He became close to Malone, who took him along as she traveled to Poro’s beauty schools and organizations in other cities. During these tours French met notable African American citizens, especially musicians, many of whom visited Chicago and stayed at Poro College. W.C. Handy, Mary McLeod Bethune, Langston Hughes and Marian Anderson were just a few of the cultural icons that Malone introduced to French and to Poro’s hospitality. French became close to Ottoway (alt.: Ottaway) O. Morris, executive secretary of the YMCA, first in St. Louis and then at the Wabash/Washington Park YMCAs in Chicago.

French attended Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. On campus he was among the charter members who established SIU’s local Kappa Alpha Psi men’s fraternity in 1951. He maintained his association with this national African American fraternity throughout his life. He continued to work for Poro until Malone’s death in 1957, and thereafter with Malone nephew Dr. Milo Turnbo (1907-1993) until Poro ceased to operate. French also continued his involvement with African American cosmetology associations, including the National Poro Association. He helped organize Heritage of Afro American Beauty Industry, Inc., a group formed in the 1980s to preserve this aspect of African American history.

Robert French decided to collect the historical documentation of Annie Turnbo Malone and Poro after he learned that most family photographs or documents had not been saved, partly because of the upheaval of Malone’s move from St. Louis to Chicago and partly through other family members’ neglect. His association with Poro provided access to some of the Poro material that comprises this collection. He also contacted persons who remembered Poro for records and interviews, generating more material. French collected files of various subjects that are related to the Poro story and that illustrate aspects of African American history and culture. Those include the history of African Americans in St. Louis (“The Ville”), aspects of African American beauty culture, and the relationship between Poro and aviator John C. Robinson.

Sources

• Blackwelder, Julia Kirk. Styling Jim Crow: African American Beauty Training during Segregation . College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2003.
• Bundles, A’Lelia Perry. On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker . New York: Scribner, 2001.
• Dawson, Nancy J. “Annie Minerva Pope Turnbo-Malone.” Encyclopedia of African American Business History . Ed. Juliet E. K. Walker. Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. (see for complete listing of biographical reference sources)
• Gill, Tiffany M. Beauty Shop Politics: African American Women’s Activism in the Beauty Industry . Urbana, Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2010.
• Ingram, John N. and Lynne B. Feldman. African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary . Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994.
• Rooks, Noliwe. “Annie Turnbo Malone.” The African American National Biography . Eds. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Evelyn Brooks-Higginbotham. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
• Willett, Julie. Permanent Waves: The Making of the American Beauty Shop . New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Harsh Research Collection Holdings Relevant to Annie Turnbo Malone and Poro

The following collections contain material related to the Robert O. French Papers: the Horace Cayton Papers, the Marjorie Stewart Joyner papers, the McGill Family Papers, the Theodore Charles Stone Papers and the Eugene Winslow Papers.

Collections at Other Institutions Relevant to Annie Turnbo Malone and Poro

• Booker T. Washington Papers, Library of Congress
• Claude Barnett Papers, Chicago History Museum
• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library
• Western Historical Collection, University of Missouri

Scope and Content Note

The papers of Robert O. French comprise the materials and artifacts collected by French, a nephew and also assistant (1946-1957) to Poro College and Poro beauty product company founder Annie Turnbo Malone (ca.1869-1957). These materials include biographical material on Malone, as well as a small amount of her correspondence. A significant portion of the collection was generated by the Poro enterprise (1915-1960s), such as graduation and other event programs, advertising and other promotional material, photographs and memorabilia. Because Robert French dedicated himself to collecting and preserving Poro’s history, his papers include his research files on various aspects of Poro, Annie Turnbo Malone’s life, and related subjects such as African American beauty culture in America and the history of “The Ville” neighborhood of St. Louis. Also included is correspondence that French carried out while he conducted this research or maintained ties with out-of-town college friends. Some biographical French material relates to his involvement with various Poro organizations, the YMCA, African American beauty culture associations and his college fraternity. Certain items are photocopied from originals, which are not included in the collection.

Much less documentation is provided on Poro College curricula, Poro Company financial, organizational or product manufacturing records, and records of Annie Turnbo Malone’s birth, schooling, marital status or earliest business enterprises.

The collection has been arranged to reflect Robert French’s own file system or other provenance of materials as closely as possible. Therefore the researcher will find many folders that combine a variety of correspondence, event programs, news clippings and photocopies of photographs. However, the collection’s photographs, audiovisual media and memorabilia have been housed separately.

The collection has been arranged in 10 series:

1. Annie M. Turnbo Malone Biographical Materials . Arranged by topic, and chronologically within, are Malone’s personal documents, her obituaries and examples of her correspondence (1919-1950), all relating to Poro enterprises. Also included is a variety of secondary biographical data collected from various sources by Robert French. More information on Malone is found in Series 2 and Series 6.
2. Poro College and Poro Company Products . Reflecting the life of Poro College and its related business enterprises from 1915 to the 1960s, this series provides materials produced by Poro, such as graduation and other event programs, promotional booklets and advertising. The items may or may not reflect their hierarchical Poro source, which would include Poro headquarters (St. Louis until 1930, Chicago after 1930), Poro branches (many larger cities, including Chicago before 1930) or Poro’s organizational functions (e.g., teaching, recruiting, advertising). The series is arranged chronologically by folder and within folders, with news clippings (collected by Robert French) at the end of the series. Photographs taken at various events are found in Series 7.
3. Poro Social Clubs and Organizations . This series includes programs from National Poro Association conventions from the 1950s through the 1980s, as well as items produced by Poro social clubs from Chicago, St. Louis and a few other cities from the same period. Included are materials arising from Robert French’s own involvement with these activities. The series is arranged alphabetically by topic, chronologically within folders, with news clippings at the end of the series. Photographs taken at various events are found in Series 7.
4. Annie Malone Children’s Home . This series provides programs and news clippings documenting the story of the Annie Malone Children’s Home, or the St. Louis Colored Children’s Home, as this St. Louis institution was known before 1946. Absent is original paperwork detailing the massive funding Malone provided for a new building in the 1920s, and her long service as board member until sometime after World War II. However, Robert French’s correspondence (also found in Series 6) indicates a relationship he maintained with the home as it continued its active service into the 21st century. Also, a significant portion of this series relates the history of “The Ville” neighborhood of St. Louis in which the home is located. This series is arranged chronologically, with news clippings at the end of the series.
5. African American Beauty Culture . Materials herein relate to Robert French’s participation in various beauty culture associations organized to promote professional beauty culture practice in the African American community. A folder pertaining to the Heritage of Afro American Beauty Industry, Inc., details the efforts of the profession to preserve the history of African American beauty culture (1980s-2000s). Series arrangement is mostly alphabetical by topic, chronological within folders.
6. Robert French Research Files . French’s correspondence, located first in this series, illustrates his research into Poro’s history and also his personal relationships from Poro or from his college days. Included is correspondence with other repositories to which he donated items related to Poro and Malone. This series also includes extensive secondary source information about the historic “Ville” neighborhood in St. Louis. Materials documenting the founding of the Southern Illinois University’s Kappa Alpha Psi chapter, with French as a charter member [c. 1950], also comprise a folder. Also found in this series are files French created as he carried out his Poro research on such topics as African American Chicago banker Jesse Binga, Burr Oak Cemetery and St. Louis journalist Nancy Garrett Fields. The series concludes with funeral programs and related obituaries collected by French, which detail the lives of former Poro employees and agents as well as other notable African Americans located mostly in Chicago and St. Louis. These include funeral programs for Dr. Milo Turnbo, Malone’s nephew who assumed leadership of Poro shortly before she died, and for Robert French’s brother James. However, the researcher should note that funeral programs and related obituary material may also be found elsewhere in the collection.
7. Photographs . The photographs include several early (c. 1920) portraits of Annie Malone and a few views of various Poro College graduations, Poro Club events and holiday celebrations. Over a dozen photos document the Malone gravesite at Burr Oak Cemetery. Robert French is shown at various Poro graduations and beauty culture conventions (1950s-1980s), and with his Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity brothers at various times and locations, including the founding of the Southern Illinois University chapter (1951). Also found in this series are several photographs of Ottoway (alt.: Ottaway) O. Morris, YMCA executive administrator and friend of Malone and French, both in St. Louis and in Chicago. In a few instances, a photocopy replaces the original photograph that is not available. For photographs from Poro’s early history the researcher should examine the Poro publications “Souvenir of Poro College” and “‘Poro’ in Pictures,” which are found in Series 2.
8. Audiovisual Material . This series contains two audiocassettes of an interview of Robert French conducted under Harsh Research Collection auspices by Michael Flug and Alexis McCoy. French discussed his relationship to his aunt Annie Turnbo Malone and the history of Poro. Also in this series, a St. Louis TV video documentary (“Living St. Louis—Annie Malone”) provides interviews of persons who worked with or who remembered Poro and its founder [c. 1972].
9. Memorabilia . Of particular interest are eight original labeled containers for various Poro beauty products, not dated. Other items in this series include original Poro advertising, Poro postcards, Poro dealer membership card, publicity materials, sales forms and tickets to Poro events, relating to Poro in Chicago and many of which were created after Malone’s death in 1957. Also found are Robert French’s own membership cards and name tags from various beauty culture conferences and the YMCA of Chicago.
10. Books . Collected by Robert French during his Poro employment and/or research are two volumes relating to African American history in Missouri, and a standard textbook on cosmetology (1960).

Container List

Robert O. French Papers, 1902-2007