City: Richmond, VA

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (804) 771-2017

Address: 600 N. 2nd St.

Description: The symbolic centerpiece of this site is the impressive home of the even more impressive woman Maggie L. Walker. She was the grand secretary of the Order of St. Luke, an influential fraternal organization dedicated to helping African Americans improve their economic standing in the age of Jim Crow. She went on to cofound the local chapter of the NAACP and charter a bank. This National Park Service site highlights the work and accomplishments of this Richmond native, the daughter of a slave who never let being a black woman in the segregated South slow her down. Though her 28-room mansion is on Leigh Street, you begin the visit at the park’s visitors center on 2nd Street by watching the orientation film that puts her life’s work in the context of American history. Then the guided tour walks you through her life story, from poverty to powerful citizen, businesswoman, and banker—the first African-American woman to charter a bank. Then it’s on to her home, which is furnished as it was in 1930. This site is open Mon through Sat.