Maggie L. Walker
Maggie Lena Walker was born on this date in 1867. She was a Black businesswoman and civic leader.
Walker spent her childhood at the Van Lew Mansion in Richmond, VA, where her mother, a former slave, worked as a cook’s helper. An abolitionist, Miss Van Lew ensured that all of her servants received a good education. Here, Walker began to learn the value and importance of learning. Like many educated Black women during that time, Walker's first contribution was in education. She taught in the public school system after she graduated from Armstrong Normal School in Richmond. She left the teaching profession after her marriage and soon saw the limited availability of jobs for Black women.
Walker believed that Black women in America had an instrumental role in the economic and political success of the Black community. In 1903, she founded the Saint Luke Penny Saving Bank in Richmond (her hometown). She retired for health reasons in 1933. Maggie Walker, the first Black female bank president in America, died on December 15, 1934. The bank survived the depression and remains solvent to this day.
Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia
Volumes 1 and 2, edited by Darlene Clark Hine
Copyright 1993, Carlson Publishing Inc., Brooklyn, New York
ISBN 0-926019-61-9
