Maggie Lena Walker (née Draper Mitchell; July 15, 1864 – December 15, 1934) was an American businessperson and teacher. In 1903, Walker became both the first African-American woman to charter a bank and the first African-American woman to serve as a bank president. Her mother, a former slave, was an assistant cook at the Van Lew estate in Church Hill of Richmond, Virginia, where she met Cuthbert, an Irish American journalist for the New York Herald, based in Virginia. There is no record of a marriage between Draper and Cuthbert. Draper married William Mitchell, a butler at the Van Lew estate, soon after Maggie Walker's birth. In 1870, Maggie's half-brother, Johnnie Mitchell was born to Elizabeth and William Mitchell. Ten students graduated from the Richmond Colored Normal School that year, including Walker, Dabney, and businessperson Mary Burrell.

Teaching career

After graduating high school, she taught for three years at her former school, the Valley School, also known as the Lancasterian School for a wage of thirty-five dollars a month. Her employment ended once she was married, in accordance with school policy against employing married women. Walker saved the Independent Order of St. Luke from the brink of collapse after the financial mismanagement of its previous leader, William Forester, doubling the number of members within her first year at the top.

A pioneering insurance executive, financier and civic icon, she established the Juvenile Branch of the Order in 1895 while serving as grand deputy matron. This branch encouraged education, community service, and thrift in young members.

Maggie L. Walker served as the leader of the order until her death in 1934. Soon after, Walker's daughter-in-law, Harriet N. F. Walker, took over her position and led the order until 1957.

The St. Luke Herald

In a 1901 speech at the convention for the Independent Order of St. Luke, Walker proposed that the order should create a newspaper for publicizing its actions. In March 29, 1902, she published the first issue of The St. Luke Herald, a newspaper for the organization. She was motivated by the need to draw attention to black issues in the community and increase communication for the Order. The first issue decried Jim Crow laws, a discriminatory justice system, and the restriction of public school privileges. The paper included a section for children, letting them publish letters to "The St. Luke Grandmother" and publishing her advice. Walker was the journal's editor for over 30 years. Charles Thaddeus Russell was Richmond's first black architect and he designed the building for Walker. The St. Luke Penny Savings Bank's leadership also included several female board members.

Walker provided children's savings initiatives through the bank, giving children in Richmond's Jackson Ward cardboard boxes for saving pennies. She let them open bank accounts when they had saved a dollar, and claimed that many had saved $100–400 during this time.

Walker received an honorary master's degree from Virginia Union University in 1925, and became a trustee there in 1931. She also served as trustee to the National Training School in Washington D.C.

Walker's image was included in the 1945 painting Women Builders by William H. Johnson as part of his Fighters for Freedom series.

In Walker's honor, Richmond Public Schools built a large brick high school adjacent to Virginia Union University. Maggie L. Walker High School was one of two schools in the area for black students during the Jim Crow era; the other was Armstrong High School. Generations of students spent their high-school years at the school. It was totally refurbished to reopen in 2001 as the regional Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies.

thumb|Maggie L Walker National Historic Site, [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]]

The St. Luke Building held the offices of the Independent Order of St. Luke, and the office of Maggie L. Walker. Walker's daughter-law, Harriet N. F. Walker, honored Maggie Walker's memory and worked to preserve her legacy. As late as 1981, Walker's office was preserved as it was at the time of her death in 1934. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

The National Park Service operates the Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site at her former Jackson Ward home. In 1978 the house was designated a National Historic Site and was opened as a museum in 1985. The site states that it "commemorates the life of a progressive and talented African-American woman. She achieved success in the world of business and finance as the first woman in the United States to charter and serve as president of a bank, despite the many adversities. The site includes a visitor center detailing her life and the Jackson Ward community in which she lived and worked and her residence of thirty years. The house is restored to its 1930s appearance with original Walker family pieces."

thumb|Statue of Walker

Walker was honored in 2000 as one of the first group of Virginia Women in History celebrated at the Library of Virginia.

thumb|Maggie L. Walker Memorial Plaza|left

On July 15, 2017, a statue of Walker, designed by Antonio Tobias Mendez, was unveiled at the Maggie L. Walker Memorial Plaza on Broad Street in Richmond. The Washington Post noted that the bronze, 10-foot statue depicts Walker "as she lived—her glasses pinned to her lapel, a checkbook in hand."

Notes

References

Further reading

  • NPS Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site website

:*Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site Museum Online Collections

:*Maggie L. Walker Videos on Youtube

  • Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies website
  • Enterprising Women Maggie L. Walker Archived webpage from June 17, 2006.
  • Norwood, Arlisha. "Maggie Walker" . National Women's History Museum. 2017.