Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site

The Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site is a venue that is relevant to today’s society because her home offers a special inspiration to entrepreneurial women and the African American community as well as other visitors who wish to expand their social and cultural horizons. This old and incredibly maintained home from the 1900’s in Richmond’s Jackson Ward neighborhood is marked by incredible splendor: 28 rooms, gas electricity, and even an elevator to emphasize the owner’s wealth. You might be surprised to hear that this home belonged to a woman, and a black woman at that. The Jackson Ward location is a symbolic landscape to the historical site because it was the only district in Richmond where Blacks owned companies, dominated institutions, and were not accustomed to slavery. This exciting and colorful neighborhood was the most prosperous of black communities during the early 1900’s and the birthplace of African American entrepreneurship; it is even referred to as the “Black Wall Street of America.” It is no wonder that Maggie L. Walker was the face of this community because she perfectly embodied the industrious and hopeful attitude that has come to describe Jackson Ward today.

The museum’s neighborhood layout provides a lived experience by including each visitor in Maggie’s lifestyle and family customs. She is remembered not only in Richmond but also through out the entire history of Black activism in the United States. As a visitor, being present in this remarkable woman’s home, where she resided 50 years ago and experiencing the restored rhetorical artifacts of her life, helped me understand how impressive Maggie Walker’s accomplishments truly are.

Maggie’s home itself is the most important exhibit of the historical site. The technological advancements that were made during the late 1800’s and early 1900s really struck me. Museum visitors see how sections of her house were converted from gas to electrical, such as the fireplace, heating system, and kitchen stove, yet in the upstairs bedrooms, we see candles lit as a source of light. The combination of personal objects, such as photo albums, exquisite artwork, and even the fine kitchen silverware that serve as the décor in Maggie’s home explained to me her success during a difficult time. These objects, although discrete, emphasized Maggie’s role in the home.

I joined an hour and a half long tour and the park ranger honored the importance of Maggie’s achievements, family life, and education. In a dull voice, he spoke from a historical standpoint and discussed Maggie’s establishments: the bank, emporium, and newspaper. Each one is placed in great historical context through out the museum but can also be understood rhetorically thus helping me to imagine Maggie’s life. A bank is generally seen as a place where money can be stored but Maggie’s bank was special because it invited blacks in the community to congregate and regain courage to continue fighting for desegregation. By putting her own money into the bank, inviting choirs to perform, and activists to speak there, she took a selfless approach and contributed to the community’s well being. It is important to note that she was the first black woman living in the US during the early 1900s to not only establish a [successful] bank but to withhold its presidency for her entire adulthood. Her motto, “let’s have a bank that will take the nickels and turn them into dollars,” I believe reflected her desire to impact change for all groups of people discriminated against, including blacks and women in the 1900s.

The park ranger, who led my tour around the national historic site, reminded me of a virtual encyclopedia. He repeated facts about Maggie’s life in a monotone voice, which made it hard to keep up with his fast dialect. Although he could have emphasized this a bit further, Maggie’s appreciation for education reflected her success in life. In her living room, I admired Maggie’s diplomas and educational awards that hang on the wall. This physically showed me how important education was to her. As a child, most of her peers did not have the luxury of learning how to read and write, but Maggie’s skills in both fields helped her plot the various businesses that she began in her early life. She even took classes on how to run a business to make the organizations she worked for successful and without this education Maggie would not have been as multidimensional as she was. The bank, which originally was a small organization, turned into a business of 100,000 members. During this time, education was a luxury to have, which my tour guide neglected to speak about. I think he could have explained to us the correlation of education during segregation to emphasize how accomplished Maggie’s establishments were.

As Maggie grew older she had to over come many obstacles. She not only became paralyzed in her old age but her eldest son accidentally killed her husband, when mistaking him for a neighborhood burglar. Despite these tragedies, Maggie’s striking bravery carried on. She publically fought for civil rights and the rights of her community as a whole, which is continuously reflected at the museum. Maggie was a woman of determination, faith and devotion and her entrepreneurial successes continue to inspire to African Americans and other women who are struggling for power today. Before arriving at the site, I read about Maggie Walker and had prematurely concluded that she was a wealthy woman who was lucky to have not been born into slavery. However, after leaving the site, my perception changed and I now believe that because of her appreciation and use of her education, she changed the reputation of the black community in the 1900s. Maggie Walker’s spirit lives on in Richmond and for African Americans facing inequality in their institutional settings.