(BUSINESS.) Portrait of banking and charitable pioneer Maggie Lena Walker and her staff.

(BUSINESS.) Portrait of banking and charitable pioneer Maggie Lena Walker and her staff. Photograph, 8 x 10 inches, on 12 x 14-inch photographer's mount; minimal wear. Richmond, VA, 1923 Maggie Lena Walker (1864-1934) was the first African-American woman to charter a bank. It remained in operation into the present century. She was born in Richmond, VA to a formerly enslaved mother and an Irish-American father, and graduated from the Richmond Colored Normal School. She worked her way up through the ranks at the Independent Order of St. Luke, a Black fraternal society which offered insurance and helped support Black-owned businesses. As the order's leader from 1899 onwards, she launched the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, and then served as chair of the board of directors when it merged into the venerable Consolidated Bank and Trust Company.
This photograph shows Walker (left) with the management staff of the Independent Order of St. Luke. Several of the same managers appear in another portrait titled "Maggie Lena Walker and IOSL Department Heads" at the Maggie L. Walker Historic Site.
The photograph was taken by The Browns, Richmond's leading Black-owned studio, which had been founded by George O. Brown (1852–1910).