Maggie-lena-walker.docx

University of Perpetual Help System Laguna - JONELTA Basic Education Department – Senior High School

(July 15, 1864 – December 15, 1934)

NAME: Maggie Lena Mitchell-Walker PLACE OF ORIGIN: Richmond, Virginia

Maggie Lena Walker born Maggie Lena Draper was born on July 15, 1864 in Richmond, Virginia. Walker’s mother, Elizabeth Draper, was an assistant cook and her father, Eccles Cuthbert, was an Irish-born newspaperman on the Van Lew estate. The two were never married and shortly after Maggie's birth, Elizabeth married her stepfather William Mitchell, the butler of the estate. In 1870, the Mitchells had a child, Maggie's halfbrother Johnnie.

University of Perpetual Help System Laguna - JONELTA Basic Education Department – Senior High School

Tragedy struck, however, when in 1876 William was found drowned in the river. His death was ruled a suicide by police, though Elizabeth maintained that he had been murdered. William's death left Elizabeth and her children in poverty. To make ends meet, Elizabeth began a laundry business, with which Maggie assisted by delivering clean laundry to their white patrons. It was during this time that she first developed an awareness of the gap between the quality of life for whites and blacks in the United States—a gap that she would soon devote her life to narrowing. She attended at the Lancaster School and later, the Richmond Colored Normal School, both institutions dedicated to the education of African Americans and graduated in 1883, having been trained as a teacher. She was an African-American teacher and businesswoman. While attending the latter, she also joined the Independent Order of St. Luke, a fraternal organization dedicated to the advancement of African Americans in both financial and social standing. She returned to the Lancaster School to teach and remained there until 1886. Walker was the first African American female bank president to charter a bank in the United State. As a leader, she achieved successes with the vision to make tangible improvements in the way of life for African Americans and women. Disabled by paralysis and limited to a wheelchair later in life, Walker also became an example for people with disabilities. In 1886, Maggie Lena Mitchell married Armistead Walker, Jr., a wealthy black brick contractor and member of her church. She was forced to leave her teaching job due to the school's policy against married teachers. Over the next decade, Maggie Walker's life was split between family and her work for the Order of St. Luke. In 1890, she gave birth to her first son, Russell, and in 1893, Armstead, who died while still an infant. In 1895, Walker, who had been rising quickly through the ranks of the Order, became grand deputy matron. She also established a youth arm of the order to inspire social consciousness in young African Americans. In 1897, Walker gave birth to another son, Melvin. In 1899, Maggie Walker became grand secretary of the organization—a position that she would hold for the rest of her life. When Maggie Walker assumed control of the Order of St. Luke, the organization was on the verge of bankruptcy. In a speech she gave in 1901, she outlined her plans to save it, and in the coming years, she would follow through on each item she had

University of Perpetual Help System Laguna - JONELTA Basic Education Department – Senior High School

described. In 1902, Walker founded the St. Luke Herald to carry news of the Order of St. Luke to local chapters and to help with its educational work. The following year, she opened the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank (of which she would be remain president until 1929). 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. Until 2009, the bank thrived as the oldest continually African Americanoperated bank in the United States. In 1905, she opened the St. Luke Emporium, a department store that offered African-American women opportunities for work and gave the black community access to cheaper goods. In addition to her work for the Independent Order of St. Luke, Maggie Walker was active in civic groups. As an advocate of African American women's rights, she served on the board of trustees for several women's groups. Among them were the National Association of Colored Women and the Virginia Industrial School for Girls. To assist race relations, she helped to organize and served locally as vice president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and was a member of the national NAACP board. She also served as a member of the Virginia Interracial Commission In the midst of all of these accomplishments, however, tragedy visited Maggie Walker once more: In 1915, Russell Walker, mistaking his father for an intruder, shot and killed him as he was returning home one night. Russell was tried for murder, but was found innocent. Also around this time, Maggie Walker developed diabetes. Yet this did not deter her in her work. In 1921, Walker ran for the seat of superintendent of public instruction on the Republican ticket, though she was defeated along with the other black Republican candidates. Her work for the Order of St. Luke, however, was meeting with much more favorable results. By 1924, under Maggie Walker's continued leadership, the bank served a membership of more than 50,000 in 1,500 local chapters. Additionally, she managed to keep the bank alive during the Great Depression, despite the fact that many were failing, by merging it with two other banks in 1929.