I received an email from a young woman who works for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. More or less it read, "Hey, you want to see Madam Walker's estate?"

The Trust, as they like to call it, was hosting a media tour of Villa Lewaro, the official name for the upstate New York estate of Madam C.J. Walker, the first self-made black female millionaire. Walker was a business pioneer who amassed her fortune developing beauty and hair products for black women.