I wanted to like “Self Made,” the four-part series on Netflix based on the life of Madame C.J. Walker. I really did. Lebron James and Maverick Carter were the producers. And I am a huge supporter of just about everything Lebron does. But this venture needed a consultation with an actual historian.
“Self-Made” stars Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer, the great Blair Underwood and Tiffany Haddish. But we’re in a time when truth and facts have to predominate. And on that front, Self Made fell flat.
While there are many things to celebrate about Madame C.J. Walker, who had a deep love for black women and wanted to instill in us a sense of pride and beauty, to tell her story at the expense of Annie Turnbo Malone, was just wrong. This Netflix original based on the book by Madame C.J. Walker’s “great-granddaughter,” pulled forth all of the old tropes about black women, colorism and our lack of working together and it left a bad taste in my mouth. Listen to my podcast on it here:
