Poro College

CTL-E-1371 · Business · other · 1917/1918-1951 (Chicago HQ 1930-1951; 32 school branches operating into the 1950s); Chicago campus 1930-1951 (company founded St. Louis 1902; Poro College opened St. Louis 1918; Annie Malone died Chicago 1957)

PROVISIONAL evidence grade of this record

Black-woman-owned beauty manufacturing and cosmetology-school empire; relocated from St. Louis to Chicago in 1930 and occupied a full South Side block known as the 'Poro Block.' Trained tens of thousands of women as Poro agents and salon owners; lost to tax debt and creditors in 1951.

Notes

Merged into canonical KG 2026-10-03 from ECON-001; source entity IDs: CTL-DR-ECON-001:ECON-052; source research type(s): business.

Sources

SHSMO; Good Black News (2016)
SHSMO; associatedhairprofessionals.com
SHSMO; AAUW; LA Sentinel
urbanreviewstl.com (2010)
Face2Face Africa (2021)
Digital Research Library of Illinois History Journal (Neil Gale, Ph.D.); Face2Face Africa
DRLOIH Journal (2018); Los Angeles Sentinel; Face2Face Africa
Alamy stock image caption transcribing a Poro price-list pamphlet (primary source)
Face2Face Africa; Los Angeles Sentinel
San Diego Free Press (2018)

Record CTL-E-1371 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: PROVISIONAL · 10 sources (1 primary) · CTL research: ECON-001.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph

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Cite as: CultureTechLens, “Poro College (CTL-E-1371),” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, October 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-1371/

Chicago: CultureTechLens. “Poro College (CTL-E-1371).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-1371/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). Poro College (CTL-E-1371) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-1371/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “Poro College (CTL-E-1371).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-1371/

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Apartment houses and funeral parlor in Negro section of Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, 1941Photo: Lee, Russell, 1903-1986, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress

Children at the table in a kitchenette apartment, Chicago, 1941Photo: Russell Lee, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress

Children asleep in a kitchenette apartment, Chicago, 1941Photo: Russell Lee, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress

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