By Garry Blanson
Part Two of a Two-Part Series
Welcome back, everyone! Before I end the suspense and reveal the information about Isac Gray Hockenhull that I promised in my last article, I would like everyone to know that the recall efforts of Mayor Oliver Ellis have officially begun!
With that said, let me share the special information about Isac Gray Hockenhull, as well as more about his enterprising mother, Madam M.E.D. Hockenhull.
I was very surprised to learn that Isac ended up meeting and marrying a nice young Negro lady who had been featured throughout the United States. While she was known mainly for her stunning voice and fantastic singing ability, this young lady also shined when she assisted Isac and his mother in their hair care and beauty business.
Additionally, her fame and name are known all over the world! Who was this young Negro lady—the one known simply as Isac Hockenhull’s wife from 1936 to 1941, during their marriage?
Well, maybe if I mention that she had the honor of singing to thousands of people, including millions of her fans and admirers, at the 1963 March on Washington, her name will roll off your tongues like that!
If your answer was Mahalia Jackson, the Queen of Gospel, you are absolutely correct!
Now, let’s get back to Isac’s mother, Madam M.E.D. Hockenhull. Soon after marrying her second husband, Robert Hockenhull, the couple opened, owned, and operated the very first hotel for colored people in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. However, once the hotel was running smoothly, Madam Hockenhull opened her own beauty store called Ladies Choice Millinery Store and Beauty Parlor.
Ladies, imagine being a colored woman around 1910 and walking into a store where there was a plethora of products—ranging from hats and handmade dresses to hair and beauty products of all sorts! In addition to all the other items she offered, she actually manufactured and sold her own hair care line as well.
Furthermore, like her contemporaries Madam C.J. Walker and Annie Turnbo Malone, she founded a beauty school where she taught her hair and beauty system to Negro girls and women.
In 1913, word about Madam Hockenhull’s business success in Pine Bluff reached the famed educator Booker T. Washington. In 1914, a little over a year before his death, he sent her a letter inviting her to be one of the guest speakers at the 15th Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League, which was held in Muskegon, Oklahoma.
Needless to say, she gladly accepted his invitation—and in 1914, Madam M.E.D. Hockenhull joined Madam C.J. Walker as one of the first Negro women to ever speak at a National Negro Business League convention.
Interestingly, not only did Madam Hockenhull give her speech at the convention, but she also hosted a fashion clinic, displaying several of her handmade dresses and other products she had manufactured. By the end of the event, everyone was raving about Madam Hockenhull and her fabulous designs.
For unknown reasons, in the early 1920s, she divorced Robert Hockenhull and moved with Isaac to Chicago, Illinois. With the assistance of Isaac—and later Mahalia Jackson Hockenhull—she continued making her fine products and teaching her hair and beauty system.
Sadly, on December 18, 1937, after teaching thousands of Negro women her hair and beauty system, Madam M.E.D. Hockenhull departed this world. But while she was here, she blazed a trail for other Black female beauticians to follow.
