On this day, Maggie Lena Walker, a groundbreaking African American businesswoman and civic leader, passed away. Before her death, she served as secretary-treasurer of the Independent Order of St. Luke, a Black mutual aid society in Richmond, Virginia.
In 1899, Walker transformed the struggling organization into a thriving financial institution that included a newspaper, a department store, and the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank — making her the first African American woman to charter and serve as president of a bank in the United States. Her efforts played a crucial role in strengthening Black economic independence and community development during the Jim Crow era.
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