Primary Sources, Black History

In speeches Mrs. Walker, the founder of  St. Luke Penny Savings Bank. had reasoned, "Let us put our money together; let us use our money; Let us put our money out at usury among ourselves, and reap the benefit ourselves."  In 1903 she founded the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank. Mrs. Walker served as the bank's first president, which earned her the recognition of being the first African American woman to charter a bank in the United States. Later she agreed to serve as chairman of the board of directors when the bank merged with two other Richmond banks to become The Consolidated Bank and Trust Company. Until 2009, the bank thrived as the oldest continually African American-operated bank in the United States. A young “Miss Maggie” Walker, the daughter of a survivor of slavery, who in 1903 became the first woman of any race to found and become president of an American bank.    ALAMERICA BANK http://bit.ly/MaggieBank Location: Birmingham, AlabamaFounded: January 28, 2000FDIC Region: AtlantaAssets: $35 404 000