Mrs. Annie Minerva Turnbo-Malone was the first self-made African-American millionaire and the first self-made female millionaire in American history. Her wealth derived from innovations in the cosmetic industry. Annie Turnbo was born on August 9, 1877 to Robert and Isabella Cook Turnbo on a small three-acre farm in Massac County, Illinois. Annie was the tenth of eleven children born to the Turnbo's and spent her early years on the farm and in the nearby city of Metropolis, Illinois. During this period, she would accompany an aunt, who was known as "an herb doctor" throughout the surrounding woods gathering ingredients for medicinal use. Annie would later credit her aunt with enabling her to develop various compounds to aid in the growth of hair. Miss Turnbo left Metropolis in the fall of 1900 for Lovejoy, Illinois where with her sister Mrs. Laura Roberts. She moved her enterprise to St.Louis, Missouri in 1902 under the name PORO (Pope and Roberts, Co.)which was a combination of the first two letters of her name from her first marriage, Pope, and her sister Laura's married name Roberts. As an institution for training beauticians it was incorporated as Poro College in 1915. Among her early employees was a young widow named Sarah Davis who journeyed to Denver, Colorado on assignment from Pope and Roberts in 1905. She later married and marketed a product under the same name as Poro's "Wonderful Hair Grower" under her new name, Madam C.J. Walker. On April 28,1914 Miss Pope-Turnbo married a former school principal and Bible salesman Aaron Eugene Malone. In November, 1918 Mrs.Malone opened a million-dollar facility for Poro College at 4300 St Ferdinand Avenue. The four-story edifice included 100 guest rooms, chemical laboratories, a public auditorium and many other amenities. Thousands of students would graduate from the school which focused on the spiritual,physical and economic uplift of African-American women. Mrs. Malone's second marriage ended in divorce in 1927. The dissolution was notoriously publicized which nearly destroyed the Poro institution. A monetary settlement arranged with her husband concluded the stormy twelve year union. Within three years, Poro College relocated to a former branch headquarters in Chicago at 4412 South Parkway. Poro survived tax crises in 1939 and 1941 and became a place culture and solitude on Chicago's southside. Renowned Gospel artist Thomas A. Dorsey wrote his most beloved gospel song "Precious Lord Take My Hand" (later made famous by gospel artist Mahalia Jackson) in 1932 while sitting at the piano at Poro College in sorrow following the tragic death of both his wife and infant child. Mrs. Malone became one of the great symbols of her time personifying the ideal of economic independence for African-American women. In 1946, the St. Louis Children's Home was renamed the Annie Malone Children's Home in recognition of her years of support to that institution's work with orphaned and indigent children. In poor health for many years, Mrs. Annie Minerva Turnbo-Malone passed away at Provident Hospital in Chicago, Illinois on May 10, 1957,at age 79. An annual parade is held in St. Louis on the 4th Sunday in May, known as the May Day or Annie Malone Parade, to support the work of the Annie Malone Children's Home and to honor the memory of Mrs. Annie M. Turnbo-Malone.