Poro School of Beauty Culture

The Poro School of Beauty Culture was a beautician school located at 314–316 17th Street North in Birmingham's Fountain Heights neighborhood in the 1930s and 1940s. It was affiliated with the Chicago-based Poro School, which promoted the use of Poro beauty supplies, primarily hair straighteners and hot combs, developed and patented by Annie Turnbo.

The name "Poro" has been associated with the Poro or Purrah secret society of Mende-speaking people in West Africa, but some claim it was a combination of the first syllables of her first married name, "Pope" and her sister's, "Roberts". Her hair products and process proved successful in door-to-door sales in St Louis, Missouri. In 1914 she married again, to educator Aaron Malone, and three years later opened the first "Poro College" in St Louis. In addition to training beauticians, the school offered franchise opportunities to graduates, and rewarded associates who remained with the company or invested in real estate.

Malone became wealthy and established herself as a notable philanthropist, supporting an orphanage and YMCA in St Louis and establishing scholarships at Black colleges, including Tuskegee Institute. She left most business matters to managers. The Malones fought a bitter public divorce in 1927 with Annie prevailing in the battle for her business empire while Aaron settled for a $200,000 payment. That empire soon proved a liability as the Internal Revenue Service demanded payment for unpaid real estate and luxury excise taxes. Annie Malone moved her business to Chicago's south side after being forced to sell the St Louis property. Creditors assumed control of the Poro business in 1951. By then one of her former students, Sarah Breedlove, later known as "Madame C. J. Walker", replicated Malone's success in building her own beauty products empire from Denver, Colorado.

Ruth Jackson was supervisor of the Birmingham school, which was operating by 1938, and Wilma Nichols was lead instructor.

References

• Byrd, Ayana & Lori Tharps (2002) Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America. St Martin's Press ISBN 9780312283223