As the leader of a benevolent organization in Virginia, Maggie Lena Walker sought ways to help empower her fellow Black Americans, eventually opening the Saint Luke Penny Savings Bank in 1903.
Born enslaved during the Civil War, Maggie Lena Walker grew up in Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy. But during her life, she made incredible strides as a businesswoman and, in 1903, became the first woman to ever charter a bank in the United States.
But that wasn’t all Walker did.
The leader of a Black benefit society, Walker’s bank was just one part of her plan to advocate for her community. She also opened up a newspaper and a department store, with the goal of helping Black residents of Richmond to become economically independent. Maggie Lena Walker also fought against segregation and discrimination by organizing boycotts, co-founding the Richmond chapter of the NAACP, and by running for public office…