Madam Bank President

THE OVERLOOK

By Tom Clavin

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          There has been a lot of news about American banks in the last few weeks, almost all of it bad because of three major failures (so far). Some of you may have noticed that with few exceptions, bank executives are male. It is an industry that continues to be male-dominated, especially at the very top. Has an American bank ever been founded and run by a woman? The answer is yes and, remarkably, given that it was over a century ago, the founder was African American. Here is a good-news story about a bank.

Maggie Lena Draper was born on July 15, 1864, the daughter of Elizabeth Draper and Eccles Cuthbert. Her mother, a former slave, was an assistant cook at the Van Lew estate in Richmond, Virginia, where she met Cuthbert, an Irish American journalist for The New York Herald, based in Virginia. (By the way, Elizabeth Van Lew was a spy for the Union during the Civil War in the Confederate capital city.) It does not appear that Draper and Cuthbert married, but after their daughter’s birth, she married William Mitchell, a butler at the Van Lew estate.

After Mitchell became headwaiter at the Saint Charles Hotel, the family moved to their own home on College Alley off of Broad Street near Van Lew's home where Maggie and her half-brother, Johnnie, were raised.  The house was near the First African Baptist Church which, like many black churches at the time, was an economic, political, and social center for the local black community. After the untimely death of William Mitchell, Elizabeth supported her family by working as a laundress. Maggie attended the newly formed Richmond public schools and helped her mother by delivering clean clothes. When she was 14 years old, Maggie joined the local council of the Independent Order of St. Luke. This fraternal society, established in 1867 in Baltimore, ministered to the sick and aged, promoted humanitarian causes, and encouraged individual self-help and integrity.

During this period, millions of freed slaves were working against the threat of Black Codes. These laws were designed to limit the freedom of African Americans and maintain white supremacy. There were restrictions in place to prevent black people from buying property and owning businesses. Essentially, the Black Codes represented another level of oppression where blacks would not be able to partake in the essential pillars of wealth creation in the United States. It was from growing up in this environment that Maggie centered her life mission around economic opportunities for African-Americans and women. She once said, “I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth, but instead, with a clothes basket almost upon my head.”

After graduating from the Richmond Colored Normal School in 1883, she taught for three years at the Lancastrian School. Her employment ended once she was married, in accordance with school policy against employing married women. Now named Maggie Walker, she devoted herself to the Order of St. Luke and rose steadily through its ranks. She served in numerous capacities of increasing responsibility, from that of a delegate to the biannual convention to the top leadership position of Right Worthy Grand Secretary in 1899. Walker's social change activities with the Order of St. Luke demonstrated her keen consciousness of oppression and her dedication to challenge racial and gender injustice. As a pioneering insurance executive and financier, Walker established the Juvenile Branch of the Order in 1895 while serving as grand deputy matron. This branch encouraged education, community service, and thrift in young members.

In 1901, she delivered the address at the 34th annual session of the Right Worthy Grand Council of Virginia chapter of the Order. This speech unraveled the economic plan and vision needed to give black people a chance in the race of life. “What we need is an organ, a newspaper to herald and proclaim the work of our Order,” Walker declared. “No business, no enterprise, which has to deal with the public, can be pushed successfully without a newspaper.” She added, “We need consecrated men and women who will raise something else besides points of order. We want an executive to run a factory, run a paper, run a bank, that will develop something and give some of the noble women work.”

The following year, Walker became the founder and editor-in-chief of The St. Luke Herald newspaper. And the year after that, in 1903, she became the first woman to become president of a chartered bank in the United States. The St. Luke Penny Savings Bank offered what many black people could not get anywhere else: mortgages, investment capital, and checking accounts. During Walker’s life, she emphasized the importance of the “black dollar” and how it could be used to create economic independence.

Walker was the first woman of any race to charter a bank in the U.S. The bank was soon seen as a powerful representation of black self-help in the segregated South. The Penny Savings Bank not only attracted adults but Walker worked to appeal to children by passing out flyers and bank books which encouraged them to save their money.

In 1915, tragedy struck: Walker’s husband was killed by her son, after he mistook him for a burglar. Her husband’s passing left her in charge of a large estate. Still, she continued working for the Order of St. Luke's but also held leadership positions in other civic organizations, including the National Association of Colored Women. She also served as the vice president of the Richmond chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

By 1924, the Penny Savings Bank had spread to other parts of Virginia and included more than 50,000 members. While other banks collapsed during the Great Depression, St. Luke’s Penny Savings survived. The bank eventually consolidated with two other large banks and moved to downtown Richmond.

After an illness in 1928, Walker, then 64, was forced to use a wheelchair. Although limited in movement, she remained a leader in the Richmond African American community. She fought arduously for women’s rights as well and served as board member of the Virginia Industrial School for Girls.

Maggie Walker passed away in 1934. Her home in Richmond is a national historic site because her family deeded it to the National Park Service in 1979, and visits can be scheduled. Today, 120 years after its founding, the St. Luke’s Penny Savings Bank continues to operate, as a subsidiary of the Consolidated Bank and Trust.

Tom Clavin is the bestselling author/co-author of 18 books, including the brand-new Follow Me to Hell: McNelly’s Texas Rangers and the Rise of Frontier Justice, and, with Bob Drury, The Last Hill. To purchase a copy, please go to your local bookstore or to Bookshop.org, Amazon.com, BN.com, or tomclavin.com.