SPEAKER_02: Reboot your credit card with Apple Card. It gives you unlimited daily cash back that can earn 4.15% annual percentage yield when you open a savings account. A high yield, low effort way to grow your money with no fees. Apply for Apple Card now in the Wallet app on iPhone to start earning and growing your daily cash with savings today. Apple Card subject to credit approval. Savings is available to Apple Card owners subject to eligibility. Savings accounts by Goldman Sachs Bank USA. Member FDIC, terms apply.
SPEAKER_04: Sick of paying $100 for groceries and getting nothing but eggs, orange juice, and a paper bag? Then download the Drop app. Drop lets you earn points with your everyday shopping and redeem them for gift cards. Want a free dinner with those groceries? Drop it. How about daily lattes? Drop it. So download Drop today and get $5 just for signing up. Use invite code GETDROP777.
SPEAKER_03: At Toyota electrified doesn't just mean plugified. So you can go off road in a hybrid Tundra and take the scenic, Rutified. Or step inside a plug-in Prius and get glamified. Or hop in an all electric BZ4X and take it Easyified. Toyota is electrified, diversified. And the more ways we can choose to reduce carbon emissions, the closer we all get to Toyota's beyond zero vision. Toyota, let's go places.
SPEAKER_01: This Women's History Month Encyclopedia Wamanica is brought to you by Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes-Benz celebrates all women driving change and is indebted to those trailblazing women who punctuate the brand's history, like Bertha Benz and Evie Rusqvist. These women defied the odds to change the auto industry forever. And Mercedes-Benz applauds the tenacity and courage it takes to make the world a better place. Mercedes-Benz applauds the tenacity and courage it takes to pave the road ahead. Listen along this month as we share the stories of inspiring women in charge and at the top of their fields. Powered by Mercedes-Benz. Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan and this is Encyclopedia Wamanica. Today we're telling the story of how the daughter of a formerly enslaved person became the first African-American woman to charter a bank. With a vision of bettering her community, she increased access to employment, education, and financial instruments during a time when the Black community had limited or no access to these vital resources due to segregation. Let's talk about Maggie Lena Walker. Maggie Lena Walker was born on July 15th, 1864, in Richmond, Virginia, on the estate of famed abolitionist and Civil War spy Elizabeth Van Loo. Maggie's parents were Elizabeth Draper and Eccles Cuthbert. But she never had a relationship with her biological father. William Mitchell, who Elizabeth married when Maggie was just an infant, filled the role of Maggie's mother. While on the estate, Elizabeth worked as an assistant cook and William as a butler. In 1870, the family welcomed Maggie's baby brother, Johnny. Later that same year, William got a job as head waiter at the prestigious Richmond Hotel. With the money from the new job, Maggie's family was able to move into a small home not far from the Van Loo estate. The family was able to move into a small home in the Van Loo estate. Sadly, tragedy struck only six years later when William was found drowned in a river. The cause of his death is uncertain, but Maggie believed that he was murdered. With two children to feed, Maggie's mother started a laundry business. Maggie helped her mother by delivering the clean clothing to her various white customers. This experience taught Maggie the importance of diversity and management, while also illuminating the large socioeconomic gap between white and black Americans. Maggie was a product of the Richmond school system, first attending the Valley School and later graduating from the Richmond Colored Normal School in 1883. While in high school, she joined the Independent Order of St. Luke, an organization dedicated to empowering black men and women by encouraging and funding efforts towards financial freedom and education. Between 1883 and 1886, Maggie juggled her membership duties for the Order of St. Luke and her responsibilities as a new teacher at the same Valley School she attended as a child. Due to a policy against married teachers, Maggie was forced to leave her post in 1886 when she married Armistead Walker Jr. Armistead was a talented brickmaker who was luckily able to serve as the sole provider for Maggie and their son Russell, who was born in 1890. Over the subsequent decade, Maggie focused on taking care of her family while also rising through the ranks of the Order of St. Luke. In 1895, she was promoted to Grand Deputy Matron. And in 1899, two years after giving birth to her son Melvin, she was elevated to the organization's top leadership position, Grand Secretary. When Maggie inherited the organization, it was on the verge of collapse due to lack of funds and mismanagement, but Maggie was not dismayed. Instead, she was propelled forward by her ambitions to found three businesses that would enable African Americans to enhance their economic power. The St. Luke Herald newspaper in 1902, the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in 1903, and the St. Luke Emporium in 1905. Under Maggie's direction, the Order grew from 1,000 members to almost 4,000 members in the first year. Maggie focused much of her efforts on developing the bank, which was of particular importance to the community, as at that time, many banks refused to lend to black borrowers. Her work as an insurance agent at a white-owned bank years earlier had provided her with the skills needed to quickly learn the ins and outs of banking. To ensure the success of the bank's opening day, Maggie enlisted the help of local children to pass out invitations for the big event. She also traveled throughout the region and as far north as New Jersey to encourage black depositors to trust her with their money. This was no easy feat. Many were still recovering from losing money to corrupt white bank managers at the Congress's Freedman's Savings and Trust Company, a bank which was set up to purportedly serve newly emancipated people after the Civil War. But Maggie slowly earned their trust, and on opening day, the bank accrued more than $9,400 in deposits. Maggie's life mission was to employ and uplift the black community. Besides the bank, the newspaper she started improved communication between the Order of St. Luke and the community and publicized the triumphs of the order. The emporium Maggie started provided work opportunities for black women and increased community access to more affordable goods. At the height of their success, these enterprises employed at least 100 black women. The emporium was Maggie's only short-lived business endeavor. The department store was forced to shut down in 1912 after receiving backlash from the white community. In a horrible accident in 1915, Maggie's son, Russell, shot and killed his father after he mistook him for a burglar in the dead of night. Maggie coped with her grief by pouring herself into work, and by 1920, the Penny Savings Bank's assets hit $530,000, about $7 million in today's money. Further success included bank patrons paying off almost 650 mortgages. Nearly 40% of black households in Richmond were then owned by their inhabitants. The bank was able to achieve such success because Maggie truly understood the needs of her community. She made loans as small as $5, since that was what many of her customers made in a week, and she extended bank hours so that those who worked past 5 p.m. could still make deposits and request loans. Maggie also converted local community members into makeshift credit committees so that borrowers could use trusted community members as references to secure loans. Maggie was not easy on her employees and expected excellence. Her former secretary, Alice Gillum, recalled how on one occasion, an audit that was due later that day came back with one nickel missing. Instead of dismissing the small discrepancy, Maggie required two of her employees to stay until they found the missing nickel. The search lasted until midnight. Maggie was one of the few bank owners who was able to maintain operations during the Great Depression by absorbing two smaller black-owned banks in 1930. The consortium was renamed Consolidated Bank and Trust Company. Until 2009, it was the United States' oldest black-owned bank in continuous operation. Over the course of Maggie's 25 years in charge, the Order of St. Luke collected close to $3.5 million and boasted 100,000 members across 24 states. Maggie also founded the Richmond branch of the NAACP and served as a board member of the Virginia Industrial School for Girls for many years. On December 15, 1934, Maggie died from complications due to diabetes. Maggie's life work consolidated communication, money, and industry in order to help her vastly under-resourced community become economically independent, mobilized, and self-sustaining. This was our final episode of our month of Women in the Driver's Seat. Tomorrow, we're introducing a brand-new theme for the new month. For more on why we're doing what we're doing, check out our newsletter, Womanica Weekly. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Encyclopaedia Womanica. Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator. Talk to you tomorrow.
SPEAKER_07: AT&T and Verizon lure you in with their best phone offers, only to lock you into a three-year phone contract, not at T-Mobile. Now, with T-Mobile's best Go 5G plans, upgrade when you want. Every year or every two, you decide. Visit T-Mobile.com to take charge of your upgrades.
SPEAKER_06: Get two-year financing on Go 5G Plus and Next. One-year upgrade on Go 5G Next requires financing a new qualifying device and upgrading in good condition after six plus months with 50% paid off. Upgrade ends financing in any promo credits. See T-Mobile.com.
SPEAKER_05: Do you hear it? The clock is ticking. It's time for the new season of 60 Minutes. The CBS News Sunday Night tradition is back for its 56th season with all new big name interviews, hard-hitting investigations and epic adventures. No place, no one, no story is off limits. And you'll always learn something new. It's time for 60 Minutes. New episode airs Sunday, September 24th on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus.
SPEAKER_00: If you've always dreamed of exploring the world, Road Scholar welcomes you. Road Scholar offers educational travel adventures for adults 50 plus in more than a hundred countries and throughout the United States. When you travel with Road Scholar, you'll be an active learner, not a passive tourist. Every day is thoughtfully planned to open your eyes to new discoveries, ideas and people. You'll learn from local experts and meet others who share your passions. Find your next adventure at roadscholar.org. Roadcholar.org slash I heart.
SPEAKER_08: Now is the time to make your house even better. Get started today. There's no payments until 2024 on approved credit. Build lasting value in your home with I heart.dabella.us.
