Maggie L. Walker was the first female to serve as president of a chartered bank. A tireless woman with enormous energy, she uplifted millions of African-American women and children through her efforts to make them financially sound, thus making them financially independent.
Her robust participation in various women rights committees helped to cement her legacy as one of the foremost leaders of the global suffrage movement in the 1920s.
A childhood mired with hardship
Maggie was born to Elizabeth Draper, a former slave and assistant cook to Elizabeth Van Lew, a Civil War spy. She was raised in Richmond, Virginiathe capital of the Confederacy at that time and a hub of African-American culture.
Tragedy struck the Walkers early when Maggies father was killed, and financial responsibilities fell on her shoulders. In the course of managing the household expenses and paying off lenders, Maggie gained a firm grasp over accounting and math, a quality that would hold her in good stead in the coming years.
Maggie took up teaching after graduation to subsist the household income, until marriage to a wealthy brick maker gave her the liberty to leave her job.
Independent Order of St. Luke
At the age of 14, Maggie joined the Independent Order of St. Luke, (IOSL) a burial society committed towards uplifting the marginalised black community. The aim of such societies was to bear the funeral expenses of any deceased relative of a member, through voluntary member subscription fees. In some instances, the society also paid an insurance premium.
Maggie took an active interest in the Order, organising events at the grass-roots level and volunteering to take care of the sick and aged. It was here that Maggie also began her entrepreneurial journey, starting an insurance company for women in the local community.
She urged members to use their money for their own good. In her speeches, she reasoned: Let us put our money together; let us use our money; Let us put our money out at usury among ourselves and reap the benefit ourselves.
St. Luke Penny Savings Bank
The success of Maggies insurance scheme emboldened her to start a chartered bank of her own in 1903making her the first female president of a bank in the US.
The bank became a powerful symbol of self-help for coloured people. Not only did it introduce the ostracised black community to the benefits of formal banking, but it also encouraged many neglected, poorer members to start saving a part of their income.
Maggie led the bank with great pride; she extolled its achievements at annual IOSL conventions and urged members to open accounts in her bank.
Appealing to all classes and ages
Not only adults, Maggie also appealed to children of account holders, distributing piggy banks to encourage them to start saving. Once the collection reached 100 cents, she allowed the children to open their own bank account. Through this gimmick, Maggie not only helped the children to understand the virtues of thrift, she also gained valuable future customers.
By 1924, the bank had spread far and wide across Virginia, and established strongholds in nearly every town. It had a strong customer base of 50,000 and over 50 full-time employees.
Under Maggies leadership, it became one of the very few banks to survive the Great Depression (one-third of the banks vanished during this period) without any losses; indeed, the bank showed growth instead through the same period.
After the Depression subsided, Maggie decided to merge St. Luke Penny Savings Bank with two other large banks, similar in ethos, to form a single entity called The Consolidated Bank and Trust Company.
Civic work
Apart from running the bank, Maggie kept herself involved in a wide range of civic activities. She immersed herself in the activities of IOSL, going on to achieve its top leadership position of Right Worthy Grand Secretary in 1899. She was a strong and vocal supporter of the womans suffrage movement, especially Afro-American.
To support the cause, she chaired many committees pushing for the same, such as the National Association of Colored Women and the Virginia Industrial School for Girls.
To further the advancement of coloured people, she worked actively for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, eventually becoming its vice-president and retaining a seat on its board. Through her involvement, she fought valiantly for better education and facilities for the coloured, and an end to racial segregation rampant during those times.
Legacy
Maggies rich legacy was preserved when the National Park Service decided to include her E. Leigh Street residence in Jackson Ward as a National Historic Landmark site in 1975.
In todays time, Maggie L. Walker has become a name synonymous with advancement of the black community and strength of female entrepreneurship. Her passion for work and entrepreneurship is seconded probably only by her undying activism for equal rights for women and the coloured race, especially in the Jim Crow era.
A true leader, Maggie fought valiantly even when she was confined to a wheelchair. No kind of misfortune or disability could keep her spirit down, proving why her legacy has endured the test of time.
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Anant Gupta is a Business Intelligence Analyst at KPMG.