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Maggie Lena Walker Biography (1864–1934) (369 hits)

Maggie Lena Walker Biography (1864–1934)

Maggie Lena Walker was grand secretary of the Independent Order of St. Luke, an organization dedicated to the social and financial advancement of African Americans.

Who Was Maggie Lena Walker?

Maggie Lena Walker graduated from school in 1883, having been trained as a teacher. She married a brick contractor in 1886 and left her teaching job, at which point she became more active within the Independent Order of St. Luke, an organization dedicated to the social and financial advancement of African Americans. In 1899, Walker became the grand secretary of the organization — a position that she would hold for the rest of her life. During her tenure, she founded the organization's newspaper and opened a highly successful bank and a department store. By the time she died, on December 15, 1934, Walker had turned the nearly bankrupt organization into a profitable and effective one.

Early Years

Walker was born Maggie Lena Draper on July 15, 1864, in Richmond Virginia. Her mother, Elizabeth Draper, was a formerly enslaved and the assistant cook for Elizabeth Van Lew, an abolitionist on whose estate Walker was born. Walker's biological father was Eccles Cuthbert, an Irish American who had met Elizabeth on the Van Lew estate. The two were never married, and shortly after Walker's birth, Elizabeth married William Mitchell, the butler of the estate. In 1870, the Mitchells had a child, Walker's half-brother Johnnie.

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