can you talk about who maggie walker was? she was one of the first african-american women to register to vote after the 19th amendment was ratified. tell us a little bit about who she was and is there anything in her personal papers, anything she wrote or said that gives us insight into how she felt? clearly she thought it was important, but what was in her heart? ajena: she was born in 1864 in richmond, virginia and grew up during the time when reconstruction was ending. the 15th amendment was passed when she was a little girl. she knew with the rights were. the right to vote were being stripped away from black men during jim crow and african-american women like her had limited opportunity. when she got the opportunity to be the leader of an organization called the independent order of sainthood, she looked at the organization as a way to expand rights and opportunities for community. she was a powerful community leader and civil rights activist and became nationally known for starting a bank in 1903. she used the newspapers

we partner with the maggie walker center. we partner with the charles young site and museum. once they come into aaam, they turn into museums. and we have partnered with the washington, d.c. office. and this is all just making sure that the park service as they need help figuring out how to do things and how to expand their reach, we make sure that we are doing that correctly with our museums. so ajena there was that very well, because i tapped her shoulders a few times saying, ajena, i have an idea for maggie walker. are you tired of my ideas yet? and she shakes her head no and i am thankful for, because we have to do this work together. and as i think about the 19th amendment and how our museums interpret and protect that history, we don't really have a problem in aaam museums preserving the history of the untold. something that's important to us is you will always see suffrage, the suffrage movement of african american women, in our museums. it is just a matter of making sure that folks understand, it right? they are coming to our museums to get that information. something

we went through in the last month, the ofries of ida b wells and course, my favorite, maggio walker -- maggie a walker. use her as an example to open up these stories that we were telling in the commemoration this year. the intersection of race and gender is very critical to talk about and we are talking about suffrage -- to talk about when we are talking about severed. the movement for suffrage -- talking about suffrage. the second point we came about and wanted to make sure we got across was the struggle that theinued for decades after amendment was passed, it was race and class and religion as i mentioned. vote as you mentioned, josephine, was restricted from black women and particularly for black men as well with poll taxes and literacy tests and grandfather clauses. just a question of whether you were a citizen or not. these were part of the stories the park service wanted to make sure we told in our commemoration this year. we also knew that we had to use a variety of means for getting those stories acros. you can't -- getting those stories across. nps.gov forl go to the history. you wi

in 1899, the independent order came under the leadership of the ambitious maggie walker and from its headquarters in richmond, it would become one of the most successful black controlled and one of the very few largely black women controlled financial institutions in the country. at its peak in the mid-1920s, the order ram an ran a bank and insurance company, operated a newspaper, it boasted 100,000 members in more than 20 states. it and employed nearly 200 people and the overwhelming majority of young women and it possessed assets that were equivalent to about $31 million in modern-day dollars. one important venture that brought the independent order of st. luke's both renowned and scandal involved charity jones and lulu robinson jones, and that was the st. luke's finance corporation headquartered in harlem and organized in the late 19 teens by the new york district of the independent order of st. luke's. the st. luke's finance corporation reflects the opportunities that have opened for women in u.s. finance by the 1920s, so there was a complex tapestry made up of thousands of black

a little objectivity with our subjects, but, i mean, it is hard not to be so impressed with maggie lena walker. so maggie lena walker was born in slate right at the end of the civil war in richmond, virginia, and she said herself that she grew up not with a silver spoon in her mouth but with their wash basket up on it. sohe grew up poor but her circumstance in her life really i think shaped her vion, her economic vision for black women in particular. and she of course with intimate in fault with independent order of st. luke's. she became its president as a youngoman in 1899, and she really transformed to that organization. it was on its las legs in 1899 when she tookver, and she communicated this vision what she you wanted to open up a sto and a factory. the never able to open a factory, and the bank. in 1903 she succeeded succeeded in doing that and she open the st. luke any savings bank in 1903 whi was the first bank to be led by a black woman and also to be margilly financed by african-american women she was also reactive politically and socially all arnd the country. if you want to know m

finance before the new deal" and maggie lena walker who said about herself she wasn't born with a silver spoon in her mouth but a laundry basket on her head. shennette garrett-scott, welcome. >> guest: thank you so much for that wonderful introduction and thank you for inviting me and everyone who made this possible. we will go ahead and get started talking. i appreciate people taking time out of their busy schedule to learn more about black women's contributions. today i will talk for about 35 minutes and talk about the world of black finance in harlem but for the 1929 stock market crash. and finance corporation. and how black women used financial institutions like the finance corporation, institutions said they lead and control to challenge the constraints of jim crow, sexism and economic exploitation. they used companies like the fls seed to carve out possibilities for themselves and the us economy and society. they understood notions about wealth, value and risk, by gender and race and your place in the economic ladder. they were not simply defined by these factors and processes. the

bout maggie walker and it's always whoa exhilarating. and joe, thank you so much for sharing your family's history. to me as a museum professional and also historian, the thing me islways passes through hearing oral history but also being able to hear it from the family. i feel that that -- that's -- that's something that's very, very unique to what we have in our field as african americans. you know, we really do make sure to reach out to the community to get those stories. and it's -- thank you. thank you. i'm just overwhelmed. that was totally off script. but thank you both. and thank you all. thank you for having me here today at a solid conference. i feel like i'm back home all the time where i'm here at asalah. so thank you for having us and for having me. i'm vidette, and i'm the executive director of the african american museums. i have been here as executive director as of now a year and a half. so that's why i'm stumbling, oh, yeah, park service. i used to be there. i was at park service for 11 years as a grants management spec

>> well, just a thumbnail sketch of maggie walker. she was born in 1864 in richmond, virginia and grew up in the time as reconstruction was ending. she saw the 15th amendment being passed when she was just a little girl, so she knew what the rights were. but she also was coming up as a young woman during the time that jim crow was settling in, that rights to vote were being stripped away from black men. and women like her, who were from black men, and women like her had limited opportunities. when she got the opportunity to be the leader of an organization called the independent order of st. luke, she looked at the organization as a way to expand rights and opportunities for her community, for people all across the way, so she was a very powerful leader, community leader and civil rights activist through the independent order of st. luke, and becomes nationally known for starting a bank in 1903. she used the newspapers to speak out against civil rights -- excuse me, speak out for civil rights and against jim crow segregation and injus

and it harkens back to the story of maggie lena walker. to understand this phenomenon of women in banking. and if you are ever in richmond, at her house she has a beautiful manchin that she owned in richmond. the national park service, you can also go online and you can do a virtual tour, there are many images of objects in the house and also of her and the various businesses and black life in richmond. and finally i think that maggie lena walker would have a lot to say about the events that are going on today. in the midst of covid she would have a lot to say about kind of revising the kind of work she did with the saint luke bank as well as independent order of st. luke's insurance company. she always talked about a black woman's way of banking. i think we could learn a lot about banking that is attuned to the practical need of the community that it served. that it centered them. i think in the pandemic for example she would argue about using sound and conservative lending criteria. but kinda be racing some of the structural institutiona

try to have little objectivity with our subjects, but it is hard not to be so impressed when maggie lena walker, maggie lena walker was born, enslaved by at the end of the civil war in richmond, virginia. she said herself as she grew up not with a silver spoon in her mouth but with the a wash baskp on her head. she grew up poor but her circumstances in her life really i think shaped her vision, her economic vision for black women in particular. she of course was simply involved with independent board of st. luke's. she became its president as a young woman in 1899, and she really transformed that organization. it was on its last legs in 1899 when she took over and she communicated this vision where she won to open up a store and a factory. they never able to open the factory at the bank. in 1903 she succeeded and she opened the st. luke penny savings bank in 1903 which was the first bank to be led by a black woman and also to be largely financed by african-american women. she is also very active politically, socially all around the country. if you want to know more about her, other than in my b

maggie walker herself was the product of rape. and she of course was surrounded by communities of women subjected to racial sexual violence and being an unwed mother, and the realm of respectability. and was a path forward. and philanthropy, with activism. so she saw lending was a respectable activity to lift themselves out of poverty but the way she ran the bank and insurance company, a little old-fashioned so the younger generation of women with the opportunities, the first generation, and the restrictions, they didn't want to have that emotion every morning before work, the latest fashions, they wanted to go to movies and listen to jazz music. and generationally about what this older generation of african-american women providing these opportunities for the younger generation of the younger generation of women taking advange of those opportunities but wanted to do things their own way. >> i want to amplify from a couple questions ago you write extensively on how horrible they were and it was the north carolina case they are bra

can you talk about who maggie walker was? she was one of the first african-american women to register to vote after the 19th amendment was ratified. tell us a little bit about who she was and is there anything in her personal papers, anything she wrote or said that gives us insight into how she felt? clearly she thought it was important, but what was in her heart? >> she was born in 1864 in richmond, virginia and grew up during the time when reconstruction was ending. the 15th amendment was passed when she was a little girl. she knew with the rates were -- rights were. the right to vote were being stripped away from black men during jim crow and african-american women like her had limited opportunity. women like her, had limited opportunities. when she got the opportunity to be the leader of an organization called the independent order of sainthood. she looked at the organization as a way to expand rights and opportunities for her community. for people all across the land. she was a powerful leader, community leader and civil

we partner with maggie walker center, portman row, authority and the port monroe site.harles young with cnn. once they come into aaa, they turn into medium. we partner with lasso that's the washington d.c. office this is making sure that park service as they need help figuring out how to do two things, and how to expand their reach. we make sure we are doing that correctly with our museums. gina knows that well, because i tapped are on the shoulder a few times saying i had this idea for you walk, are you tired of my ideas. she shaking her head no, and i'm thankful for. we had to do this work together. as i think about the 19th amendment and how our museums interpret and protect that history. we don't have the problem and aaa museums, preserving the history of the untold. something that is important to us is that you will always see suffrage of the movement in our museums, it's a matter of saying give folks understand written are coming to our museum to get that infer mission. something we do with our museum, in a museum we have exchanges, folks are also doing a lot of v

i can't let you escape, the woman who doors the cover of your book, maggie lee walker. the circumstances, she was born and raised as what she accomplished. if you want to learn more about her, lastly, more sober note, what would she say about what is going on in this country? >> i was telling david, objectivity, subjects that it is hard not to be so impressed with magdaleno walker. magdaleno walker was born at the end of the civil war in richmond, virginia. she said she grew up not with a silver spoon in her mouth but she grew up, the circumstances in her life shaped her vision, her economic vision for black women in particular, with the independent order, became president, a young woman in 1899 and transformed the organization on last legs in 1899 when she took over and communicated this vision where she wanted to open up a store and a factory and a bank, she succeeded in doing that in 1903 which was the first to be led by a black women marking financing and very active politically. if you want to know more about her there is another article that came out a few weeks a

and then just finally, i think that maggie lena walker would have a lot to say about the events going on today. and in the midst of covid, she would have a lot to say about kind of revising the kind of work she did with the st. luke's bank and independent order of the insurance company so she was always talking about a way of thanking and it's for the practical need of the communities that it serves and centers. and the kind of structural institutional inequalities that are inherent in things like credit scores so to look at multiple other kinds of sources to bet people's credit worthiness ancreditworthinessane business if she were here today she would look around and be ready to kind of raise up her sleeves and put her shoulder into kind of a transforming of the racial wealth gap which is what she tried to do and definitely what she tried to do in 2020. >> thank you so much. such great stories that have meaning today. it is incredible. we have a question from george and he is asking do you know whether any st. luke's counsel in northern cities tried to organize a similar financial ex

for me, it's maggie walker, the first woman thanked president and of course wheeler. we both understand the necessity of not becoming an elaborate of our subjects, but neither of us can deny the extraordinary-ness of the people who have ignited our imaginations and animated our scholarship. i cannot miss this opportunity and my last couple of minutes to share with the roundtable and with those watching, something about the extraordinary-ness of my scholar brother brandon. brandon is a consummate professional. anyone who knows him. in late 2014 when i began looking for contributors as a co-editor of a special issue on african american business, a special issue for the journal of african american history, a colleague told me about brandon. she really reminded me about brandon because we had crossed paths a couple of times, particularly through my mentor doctor juliette walker, and brandon made it a point always to stay in touch, to meet up for coffee conferences. over the years, we have showed -- shared our work. he comes up with these fabulous ideas for workshops. he s