A Rose of All Trades🌹
Rose Meta Morgan (August 9, 1912 – December 16, 2008) was the illustrious owner and operator of the largest beauty parlor for African American women. She was also among the founders of New York's only black-owned commercial bank, the Freedom National Bank.
Ms. Rose was one of nine children, the daughter of Chaptle Morgan, a former sharecropper turned businessman, and Winnie Robinson, a homemaker. She was born in Edward, Mississippi and raised in Chicago, Illinois.
She attended the Morris School of Beauty. After she styled Ethel Waters’s hair in 1938, the performer invited her to Harlem, New York. She rented a booth in Sugar Hill salons and six month’s later opened her salon, Rose Meta’s House of Beauty, in an old mansion.
Due to her immense drive, talent and professionalism, by 1946, the salon had 29 employees including stylists, masseurs, and nurses. In 1955, the facility relocated and reopened under a new name, Rose Morgan’s House of Beauty, with additional departments including dressmaking and charm school spread over five floors. A wig salon was added in 1960. During these times, her accomplishments were astonishing and inspirational, to many.
A 1946 Ebony article named it the “biggest negro beauty parlor in the world.” Just take a look below at the variety of services offered. Rose truly offered a full scale House of Beauty and wellness. Absolutely stellar and big business! Entrepreneurship at its finest.
She also married heavyweight boxer Joe Louis in 1955. The marriage was annulled two years later.
Rose, also co-founded the Freedom National Bank in 1964. Freedom National served Harlem's Black community and was one of the largest Black-owned banks in the U.S. It's main office was at 275 West 125th Street.
Throughout the 1960s until her retirement in the 1970s, Morgan wrote a column for the New Pittsburgh Courier. Over her career, Morgan trained 3,000 hairdressers in her beauty institutions.
In addition, to building her own successful empire, Ms. Rose helped others succeed and build empires for themselves. She also helped so many women feel good, internally and externally. This is also my mission and I am so thankful for our ancestor, Rose Meta Morgan, for helping lead the way.
Be well.
Grace🫶🏾