By Garry Blanson
The next time you visit a bank, think of Maggie Few L. WALKER. In 1903, she became the “First African -American woman to found & charter a bank, and the first African -American woman to serve as bank president in America!
She was born on July 15, 1864. Her parents were Elizabeth Draper, a former slave, and Eccles Cuthbert, a former Confederate soldier who was also an Irish-American journalist.
When she married Armstead Walker Jr. in September of 1886, she had to leave her job because it was against the school’s policy to hire married women. During the years following her marriage, Maggie was busy learning and thinking about how she would help improve her Black Community.
In 1899, she took over the head position in the local council of the Independent Order of St. Luke.
Maggie shocked the whole town by opening the St. Luke Penny Savings for business on November 2, 1903. By 1913, St. Luke Savings Bank was managing $200,000 in assets, or $5 million in 2021.
One of the most interesting things about the St. Luke Savings Bank is that it was one of the few Black-Owned Banks in America that survived the 1929 Stock Market Crash in 1929.
Perhaps the greatest of her many accomplishments was building the St. Luke Hall Building in 1905. The building also housed a department store and The St. Luke Savings Bank. Black women primarily staffed the store, and the customers were allowed to enter through the front entrance doors.
Sadly, the store closed after only five years of business due to pressure from White merchants. After helping build her Black Community, and leaving an oath for Black Women & Black People to follow, Maggie L Walker died of diabetic gangrene in 1934.
However, since her death, her house has been designated as a Historical site and was opened as a museum in 1985. Furthermore, her spirit is most alive in Richmond’s Jackson Ward Collective.
The Collective was started by three local entrepreneurs, Melody Short, Resheeda Creighton, and Kelli Lemon. The Collective serves as an incubator for small Black Businesses, providing micro-grants and entrepreneurial advice to Black-Owned businesses in Maggie L Walker’s hometown.
