Hello! Welcome back to our blog! In this post we return to Virginia, to visit
the home of an early Civil Rights leader at Maggie L. Walker National Historic
Site.
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| Entrance sign |
BACKGROUND:
Maggie
L. Walker was born in the aftermath of the Civil War in the former Confederate
capital of Richmond, Virginia, the child of former black slave and a white
Confederate soldier. Her experiences
growing up in the era of segregation and Jim Crow laws would lead her to become
an early Civil Rights activist.
Her
first foray into activism came as a teenager when the city of Richmond denied
the city’s black high school graduates a graduation ceremony. Although the effort to secure a ceremony for
herself and her fellow classmates failed it would be the start of a long
activist career.
Throughout
the late 1800s her stature within Richmond’s Black community grew as she rose
through the ranks of the charitable organization known as the Independent Order
of St. Luke. Believing that economic
power would eventually be the way to defeat Jim Crow laws, she championed black
businesses and established the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, becoming the first
woman bank president. Her activism would
continue until her death in 1934 due to complications from diabetes.
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| Maggie L. Walker's bedroom on the second floor of the Walker home, where she passed away in 1934. |
THE SITE:
Maggie L. Walker National
Historic Site preserves the home of Maggie L. Walker, and a block of houses
known as “Quality Row,” an affluent area of Richmond’s historically black
Jackson Ward neighborhood. The Walker
house remained in the possession of Maggie L. Walker’s decedents until the
1970s, when it was donated to the National Park Service. The Walker home was kept as much as possible
to the way it appeared in the early 1900s and many of the items in the home are
original artifacts. The adjacent houses
along “Quality Row” now house the park visitor center, exhibits, and offices,
and their external facades have been restored to their 1920s appearance.
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| The Walker house (center left) and a preserved stretch of "Quality Row." |
TRAVEL TIPS:
Maggie
L. Walker National Historical Site is located at the corner of W. Leigh and 2nd
Street in the Jackson Ward neighborhood on the northern edge of downtown
Richmond, Virginia. The site is open year-round,
with holiday exceptions, from 9am to 5pm except on Sunday and Monday, and
closing at 4:30pm from November through February. It is recommended to visit during the summer
as parking in the area may be difficult to find during weekdays due to the
proximity to downtown and some walking may be necessary. It is also recommended to view the short film
at the visitor center before proceeding with a tour. Tours of the Walker home are given on a
first-come first serve basis and run for approximately an hour. The Walker home is only partially handicapped
accessible. Passport stamps can be found
in the visitor center.
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:
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| A second view of the houses along "Quality Row." |
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| The courtyard behind the Walker home that includes a mural of Maggie L. Walker. |
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| The interior of the Walker home. |
