The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

From Wikipedia:

Maggie Lena Walker (July 15, 1867-December 15, 1934) was an American teacher, businesswoman, and banker. She was the first woman to charter a bank in the United States. As a leader her successes and vision offered tangible improvements in the way of life for African Americans and women. Disabled by paralysis and limited to a wheelchair later in life, she also became an example for persons with disabilities. Her restored and furnished home in the historic Jackson Ward neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia is a National Historic Site operated by the National Park Service.

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In 1902, she established a newspaper for the organization, The St. Luke Herald. Shortly thereafter, she chartered 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 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 African-American owned institution.

Tragedy struck in 1915 when her husband was accidentally killed, leaving Mrs. Walker to manage a large household. Her work and investments kept the family comfortably situated. When her sons married they brought their wives to 110 1/2 East Leigh Street, her home in Richmond’s Jackson Ward district, the center of Richmond’s African American business and social life at the turn of the century. (more…)

Quote worth quoting: “We have the men, we have the women, we have the brain. Let us form a partnership of heads and brains, and actually do something.”

Related

Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site