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Maggie Lena Walker (July 15, 1864 – December 15, 1934) was a Black American teacher and businesswoman. Walker was the first American female bank president to charter a bank in the United States. As a leader, she achieved successes with the vision to make tangible improvements in the way of life for Black Americans and women. Disabled by paralysis and limited to a wheelchair later in life, Walker also became an example for people with disabilities. Walker's restored and furnished home in the historic Jackson Ward neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia has been designated a National Historic Site, operated by the National Park Service.
Walker was born in 1864 as Maggie Lena Mitchell in Richmond, Virginia, to William Mitchell and Elizabeth Draper Mitchell, who were former slaves; her mother, Elizabeth, was a cook and laundress, while Walker's father was a butler and writer. Young Maggie attended the newly formed Richmond Public Schools and helped her mother by delivering the clean clothes.
When she was fourteen years old, Maggie joined the Richmond chapter of the Independent Order of St. Luke. This fraternal burial society, established in 1867 in Baltimore, Maryland, administered to the sick and elderly, promoted humanitarian causes and encouraged individual self-help and integrity. In 1902, she began publishing the organization’s newspaper, The St. Luke Herald. She encouraged Black Americans in Richmond to harness their economic power by establishing their own institutions through the newspaper. In 1899, she achieved the top leadership position of Right Worthy Grand Secretary, which she held until she died.
She taught grade school for three years until 1886, when she married Armstead Walker Jr., a brick contractor. Her husband earned a good living, and she was able to leave teaching to take care of her family and work with the Independent Order of St. Luke. Maggie and Armstead Walker Jr. had sons, Russell and Melvin, and purchased a home in 1904. Walker had always focused her efforts on accounting and math, and her first business endeavor was a community insurance company for women. In 1903, she founded the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank.
Mrs. Walker served as the bank's first president, which earned her the recognition of being the first woman of any race to charter a bank in the United States. Later she agreed to serve as chairman of the board of directors when the bank merged with two other Richmond banks to become The Consolidated Bank and Trust Company, which grew to serve generations of Richmonders as an Black American owned institution.
Throughout her life, she continued working for the Order of St. Luke's but also held leadership positions in other civic organizations, including the National Association of Colored Women (NACW). She also served as the Vice President of the Richmond chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
After an illness in 1928, Walker was forced to use a wheelchair, at which point she also became a staunch advocate for the rights of people with handicaps and disabilities. On December 15, 1934, Walker died from complications due to diabetes. Walker’s house in Richmond has since been designated a National Historic Site by the National Park Service, and was opened as a museum in 1985. Walker received an honorary master's degree from Virginia Union University in 1925, and was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2001.
#HiddenFigures #MaggieLWalker
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Links:
Maggie L Walker National Historic Site:
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Museum Collections - Maggie Walker:
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Women In History - Maggie Walker:
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"The first woman to start a bank — a black woman — finally gets her due in the Confederacy’s capital | The Washington Post:"
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Maggie L. Walker (Wikipedia):
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