Also American

Person · 1864–1934

Maggie Lena Walker

The first Black woman to charter a bank and serve as its president.

A founder of [[black-business]].

Daughter of a formerly enslaved woman, Maggie Lena Walker built the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond in 1903, along with a newspaper and a department store, creating institutions of Black economic independence.

On the timeline

  1. 1903
    Maggie Lena Walker charters a bank

    Founds the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond — the first woman of any race to charter and head a U.S. bank.

Resources

The web

Connections to other moments, systems, and investigations — the links rarely drawn together.

  • part of·Thread
    Black Business & Wealth

    Walker built banks and stores precisely to create Black economic independence.