M aggie L. Walker was born Maggie Lena Draper on July 15, 1864 in Richmond, Virginia. Her mother, Elizabeth Draper—a formerly enslaved woman—worked on the estate of Elizabeth Van Lew, a Unionist spy. Following the abolition of slavery, Elizabeth Draper supported her family by running her own laundry business. Maggie often helped her mother make ends meet and is famously quoted as saying, “I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth, but with a laundry basket practically on my head.” Maggie attended segregated public schools in Richmond and trained as a teacher. After marrying Armstead Walker Jr. in 1886, she quit teaching due to a school policy that forbade married women from working, which was the custom at the time.

Maggie Walker was a community organizer and advocate for the Black community in Richmond. She attended Richmond’s First African Baptist Church and was an active member of the Independent Order of St. Luke—an African American fraternal organization—where she held their highest leadership position of Grand Secretary from 1899 until her death in 1934. Among her many accomplishments within the order, she published The St. Luke Herald, opened the St. Luke Emporium department store, and chartered the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in 1903. With the opening of the bank, Walker became not only the first Black woman to charter a bank but also the first Black woman to serve as president of a bank in the United States.

Walker advocated for the financial advancement of the Black community, encouraged financial independence, and supported a thriving Black middle class. Her house, now a National Historic Site, is located in the Jackson Ward neighborhood—once known as the “Black Wall Street” of Richmond. She was also involved in various organizations that fought against discrimination, advocated for Black women’s rights, and fought for women’s suffrage. As a prominent businesswoman, community leader, and civil rights activist, Maggie L. Walker left a lasting legacy on the city of Richmond.

Biography provided by The Valentine Museum