Maggie Walker was the daughter of a formerly enslaved woman who became the first female in the United States to own a bank — one of few to survive the Great Depression. Born in Virginia one year before the end of the Civil War, Walker smashed every barrier constraining Black women in the Jim Crow South. Her extensive contributions to the formation of Richmond’s “Black Wall Street” are brought to vivid life in “A Right Worthy Woman,” Ruth P. Watson’s luminous work of historical fiction chronicling the trailblazer’s life.
It’s impossible not to admire a person as indomitable as Maggie Lena Mitchell Walker. Watson enlivens this powerful leader who came to be known as “the race woman” in a narrative that opens in 1876 when Walker is 12 years old. In an era when “colored girls were not to speak without being spoken to,” Walker boldly asks her mother’s boss how she, too, can become rich.
Following her advice to keep asking questions, work hard and save her money, Walker becomes involved with the Independent Order of St. Luke — an African American fraternal organization promoting economic independence. Her “determination to be free from a life of subservience” is ignited and she devotes herself to the Order. In 1899 Walker becomes the first female Right Worthy Grand Secretary. As her achievements grow to shape her community of Jackson Ward, Walker lives by the belief that “God created all men as equals.”
One problem, she’s not a man — something Walker is frequently reminded of by friend and foe alike. Her marriage to Armstead Walker, an affluent developer who adores her mind and dedication to the cause, allows her to rise in the ranks and establish herself as a prominent businesswoman. But it’s her dedication to equality that comes to define Walker’s life.
The seeds of liberty were sown young in Walker. An upbringing rooted in biblical principles, coupled with the early influence of Confederate abolitionist Elizabeth Van Lew, instilled Walker’s unwavering belief in equality. She asserts Jackson Ward must operate self-sufficiently to secure its own economic independence and refuses to be distracted from her mission.
In 1901, in flagrant disregard of gender and racial constraints, Walker launches an economic empowerment program that includes the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, the Emporium department store, the Herald newspaper and an insurance company. Banking, shopping, journalism and insurance benefits were services previously limited or unavailable to Black citizens.
But Walker pays dearly for her quest for independence and equality. She gathers enemies after organizing a successful boycott of the Virginia Passenger and Power Company — for charging Black passengers full fare while requiring them to stand in back — that ultimately leads to its bankruptcy.
The success of the Emporium provokes established businesses to partner with local distributors to withhold goods. The state of Virginia starts requiring insurance companies to disassociate from fraternal organizations. And in the wake of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, Walker carries a gun to protect herself. Yet still she persists.
Conflicts arise from within Walker’s own community, too. While working to bolster the Order’s membership benefits, she’s met with the response that “we done gave enough free work during slavery.” In response to promoting the streetcar boycott, she’s told, “I’m too old for this fighting with white folk.” And the colorism Walker faces because of her own light skin and fraternization with Richmond’s establishment serves to separate her further from those she’s trying to empower.
Nevertheless, she sets her sights on gaining the knowledge required for true economic independence. John Branch is the successful president of a Richmond bank and an offensive segregationist, but Walker is determined to learn the business of banking from him. Her tenacity and refusal to fail forces him into a working relationship that earns her his begrudging respect. Still, she constantly fends off his racist comments by ignoring his provocations, instead muting “any thoughts that would prevent me from doing my job.” As an observer of her mistreatment, it’s difficult to share in her restraint.
There are numerous instances when Walker chooses to hold her head high and ignore disrespect, lest she take her eye off the prize. Even W.E.B. Dubois comments to Armstead, “You’ve got yourself a woman who thinks like a man.” Armstead believes in his wife’s vision and defends her, but the hardship he and their children endure due to Walker’s devotion to her career takes its toll on the family. Most notably on Walker herself.
Watson inflates Walker into a fully actualized woman who feels and loves and stumbles and refuses to back down. Her prose is straightforward and direct, allowing Walker’s integrity and achievements to tell the story. Intertwined are stunning experiences of family loss, health calamities and setbacks both personal and collective. Through it all, Walker’s unwavering moral character is her guiding beacon.
In fact, it’s Walker’s strict adherence to the law, partnered with her impeccable recordkeeping, that ensures St. Luke’s Penny Savings Bank survives not only the radical racists intent on destroying Jackson Ward’s prosperity but the Great Depression when more than 9,000 banks in the United States failed.
Maggie Walker was an astoundingly successful woman. And she achieved success by remaining faithful to her integrity, her family and her community. Watson writes in the author’s note that Walker “loved being a woman and was determined to show Black women what was needed to survive in a ‘post’-Confederacy Jim Crow world.” In retelling Walker’s story, it seems Ruth P. Watson has done the same.
FICTION
“A Right Worthy Woman”
by Ruth P. Watson
Atria Books
304 pages, $27.99
AUTHOR EVENT
National Book Club Conference. Ruth P. Watson speakes 2:30 p.m., Friday, July 28. $350 for four-day conference. Marriott Buckhead Atlanta, 3405 Lenox Road NW, Atlanta. 404-261-9250, nationalbookclubconference.com
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