On a cool March afternoon in 1906, Maggie Lena Walker stood before the leading Black men of Richmond, Virginia, and dared them to tame a beast.
“My friends, there is a lion terrorizing us, preying upon us, and upon every business effort which we put forth,” she said. “The name of this insatiable lion is prejudice.”
Walker’s voice boomed on the final word. An enterprising woman, the 41-year-old had grown a small fraternal society, the Independent Order of St. Luke, into one of the most prominent in the nation, with a membership of 20,000 people. She had also opened a department store, the St. Luke Emporium, in downtown Richmond, as well as a bank, the St. Luke Penny Savings, which was the first in the nation chartered by a Black woman.
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