Woman became business pioneer

Madam Martha “Mattie” Ella Danner Hockenhull (known as Madam M.E. Hockenhull) was an astute Pine Bluff entrepreneur who owned a clothing store, beauty parlor and beauty school all while designing women’s attire, manufacturing her own hair products, and showcasing her talents across the country.

Hockenhull was born on May 13, 1873, in Panola County (Como), Miss., to United States Colored Troops Civil War veteran Edward Danner Sr. and to Louisa Bobo Danner. She was the youngest of four daughters among the Danners’ 10 children.

According to Hockenhull’s biography in her 73-page booklet, Book of Introduction of Improved Method in Beauty Culture; Mme. Hockenhull’s System, “She received her early training from the public schools of Panola County. Her mind was both artistic and scientific from childhood. Her first impression was to become a fashionable dressmaker. At the age of nine, she could cut and make garments perfectly. She was exceedingly studious during her early life, and most always stood at the head of her class. Having left the public school, her friends insisted that she engage in teaching. They finally prevailed upon her, and she, therefore, passed a very creditable examination before the board of education of her county, where she taught for a number of years.”

While teaching in Panola County, she married the Rev. John Gray, and the two had a son named Isaac. Eventually they divorced and she moved with Isaac to Pine Bluff in 1910. That same year she married Robert Hockenhull, and they quickly went into business together. They purchased and operated Pine Bluff’s first hotel for African Americans.

An astute businesswoman in her own right, Martha Hockenhull also opened a shop called “Ladies Choice Millinery Store and Beauty Parlor” at 627 E. Sixth St. She sold a variety of products ranging from hats to handmade dresses to hair care products. Like many of the beauty culturists of her day, she went by the title “Madam” as she manufactured her own hair care line, which included growth serums, dandruff cures, straightening, and glossing oils. She also founded a beauty school to teach her methods to aspiring students.

In 1914, Hockenhull caught the eye of Booker T. Washington, and he requested that she present her work at the National Negro Business League Convention, held in Muskogee, Okla. So on Aug. 18, 1914, the Pine Bluff Daily Graphic newspaper wrote a piece detailing her showcase at the convention.

The article stated, “Mme M.E. Hockenhull of 627 E. Sixth Avenue, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, by the request of Booker T. Washington, president of the National Negro Business League, which holds its Fifteenth Annual meet in Muskogee, Okla., Aug. 19-22, will appear in ten different costumes, including hand-printed gowns, demonstrating before the national body her work in dressmaking, millinery and beauty culture.”

During the 1920s, she and Isaac moved to Chicago after her divorce. In Chicago, she continued manufacturing beauty products and women’s clothing. Isaac, who graduated with a degree in chemistry from Tuskegee Institute, was instrumental in helping his mother develop scores of new solutions for hair care. He later went on to wed the great gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson, in a short marriage.

Hockenhull died on Dec. 18, 1937, in Chicago. She was a remarkable woman who was ahead of her time in many ways. Her range of accomplishments in business endeavors defied the odds stacked against African Americans, in general, and African American women, in particular, which were such rigid parts of the Jim Crow South.

This article is among features at ExplorePineBluff.com, a program of the Pine Bluff Advertising and Promotion Commission. Sources: FaceBook Post – Jimmy J. Cunningham – Madame M.E. Hockenhull; MyAncestorsName.BlogSpot.com – The Search For and Discovery of Madam Martha Danner Hockenhull; RootsRevealed.com – Madam M. E. Hockenhull: A 1914 National Negro Business League Convention Presenter; RootsRevealed.BlogSpot.com – Unearthing Hidden Jewels. Image Credit: RootsRevealed.com – Melvin Collier.

— Ninfa O. Barnard wrote this article for Explore Pine Bluff.com.