Maggie Lena Walker opened St. Luke Penny Savings Bank on November 2, 1903.

Black depositors. Black tellers. Black loans for Black homes and businesses.

First day: $8,000 in deposits.

Not just a bank. She launched the St. Luke Herald, a newspaper. Opened a department store on Broad Street.

A complete economic ecosystem. Money circulating within Black Richmond.

One year later: Richmond segregated its streetcars.

Walker organized a boycott. 

She pledged bank resources to fund an alternative streetcar company.

The city’s segregated streetcar company went bankrupt two months later.

She made $5 loans. Required 10% down for homes when other banks demanded 50%.

1920. 645 Black families owned their homes.

1929. The Depression. 

Walker merged three Black banks—St. Luke, Commercial, Second Street Savings—into Consolidated Bank and Trust. She served as Chairman until her death in 1934. 

The bank operated for 102 years.

Black wealth, built and sustained. 

Image Credit:© Browns Studio/National Park Service