Photograph by Audra Melton
Twenty-five years ago, Ricci de Forest couldn’t take his eyes off a small, unused storefront at the corner of Auburn Avenue and Hilliard Street. “Mme. C.J. Walker’s Beauty Shoppe” was etched into the glass panes, and as a well-traveled hairstylist, de Forest was drawn to the history of Walker’s salons in his own neighborhood. After driving by it for 10 years, he stopped and knocked on the door in 1999. He met the landlord, who offered to lease him the salon.
De Forest originally planned to operate his own salon from the location. While cleaning, he discovered dozens of beauty tools from the 1940s, still in drawers among vintage beauty chairs.
A local woman stopped by to welcome him to Sweet Auburn and let him know what was upstairs. WERD, the first radio station owned and operated by Black Americans, started on the second floor, broadcasting the music of Black artists and the sermons of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. After learning what he’d stumbled upon, his goal became preservation of this history-condensed corner of Sweet Auburn. “I was a global hairstylist, and it was all eyes on me,” de Forest says. “Through this building, I learned about what my predecessors went through that allowed me to do what I do, and it completely altered my purpose.”
Small, independent museums like de Forest’s dot Atlanta, commemorating underrepresented or unique histories and art. They operate out of storefronts or houses and largely rely on a team of one, who keeps the museum afloat through donations or their day job. At the Madame C.J. Walker Museum, de Forest charges a $7 admission, collects donations, and will sometimes cut hair right there in the museum to help keep things running.
When you enter Walker’s former salon, your body stops itself at the door to take it all in. The museum is a dual space, filled to the brim with both beauty tools and floor-to-ceiling…
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