Maggie Walker

Maggie Lena Walker, 1905

Maggie Lena Walker (born July 15, 1867 in Richmond (Virginia) , † December 15, 1934 ) was an American teacher and manager. She was the first woman in the United States to start a bank and the first African American woman to run a bank.

Life

The African-American Maggie Walker was the daughter of the newspaper correspondent Eccles Cuthbert and his wife Elizabeth Draper, a former slave and later cook in the household of a wealthy family. Maggie Walker attended Lancaster School and trained as a teacher. After receiving her degree in 1883, she taught for three years. At the same time, she studied accounting at an evening school . Walker was active in the Grand United Order of St. Luke , an organization that campaigned for the rights of African American people. After being elected to the management team of the indebted organization, she was responsible for finance from 1899. Through her commitment in the following years, Walker succeeded in helping the association to financial success and almost 100,000 members, including the establishment of an insurance company and the publication of a newspaper.

Maggie Walker dreamed of a bank owned and run by African Americans at an early age. Encouraged by her fame and the experience she had gained, she founded the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank for the Grand United Order in 1903 and her dream came true. The aim was to pool and lend the money invested by African Americans, even if it was only small amounts (as the name Penny Savings Bank already suggests), so that the blacks themselves earned on the interest. Maggie Walker was the first woman in the United States to set up a bank and the first African-American woman to run a bank. Under Walker's chairmanship, the bank continued to be successful, even after a law was passed in 1911 that separated the bank and the Grand United Order , and after the merger with two other African American-owned financial institutions in 1930. Since the merger of the three banks In 1930 the money house was named Consolidated Bank and Trust Company and has been in the market without interruption to this day.

A well-known and influential figure in business life, Walker succeeded in making improvements in living conditions for women and African American people, which was always one of her visions. As she was dependent on a wheelchair due to a plegic towards the end of her career, she also served as a role model for many people with disabilities. She also worked as a philanthropist and benefactor . Maggie Lena Walker worked in the leadership of the Order of St. Luke and the bank until her death on December 15, 1934 .

family

Maggie Walker married Armstead Walker in 1886 and had three sons. One of her sons died as an infant. In 1915, their son Russell accidentally shot his father Armstead, whom he thought was a drifter and burglar. Although Russell Walker was acquitted in a later trial, he never got through the accident and died a few years later from persistent depression and alcoholism . Some members of the St. Luke Order feared negative consequences for the organization because of the circumstances of the death of their husband and because of the reporting and asked Maggie Walker to resign, but this did not find a majority within the organization due to Walker's successful work.

Maggie Lena Walker House

The Maggie Walker House, National Historic Place, USA

Maggie Walker's Richmond home, known as the Maggie Lena Walker House ⊙ , was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 due to Walker's importance and has since been a National Historic Landmark in Virginia. The building in the well-known Jackson Ward area is intended to provide an insight into the life and work of Walker. It still contains the original furnishings and serves as a museum.

Web links

• Maggie Walker , Encyclopedia Virginia website
• Information on Maggie Lena Walker , Virginia National Historics website
• Maggie Lena Walker and the Independent Order of St. Luke , published by Anthony J. Mayo, Shandi O. Smith

Individual evidence

1. ^ A. Brinkley: American History, A Survey, ISBN 978-0-07-325718-1
2. ^ The website of the Consolidated Bank & Trust , with information about the founder
3. ^ Maggie Walker, Harvard Business Publishing
4. ↑ Information on the accident in the Encyclopedia Virginia
5. ↑ The Maggie L. Walker House on the website of the National Historic Landmarks Program ( Memento of the original from January 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.