Maggie L. Walker and I.O. of Saint Luke: The Woman and Her Work [cover subtitle: Her Life and Deeds] Wendell P. Dabney Biography / Memoir,Black Studies / Black Arts and Artists,First Editions,Virginia,Women

Cincinnati, OH: The Dabney Publishing Co., 1927. First Edition. Octavo (19.5cm); black cloth boards with gilt lettering; no dust jacket; 137pp. Black and white photographs. Boards square with a couple light bumps along edges and some scuffing and smudging to cloth. Prior ownership inscription dated 1932 on front pastedown. Slight foxing to preliminaries and one or two marginal thumbprints throughout, else pages unmarked. Binding is sound. Maggie Walker and her biographer Wendell Dabney were both born to formerly enslaved parents in 1864 and 1865, respectively. After graduating from the Richmond Colored Normal School in 1883, Walker began a career in teaching, though after taking night classes in accounting from the Women's Union she transitioned to finance, working with the Order of St. Luke, an African American fraternal order promoting Black financial independence. Walker eventually chartered the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank becoming the first woman to both charter a bank and serve as President of one. Dabney, a friend of Walker's, enjoyed a long career as a civil rights activist, writer, and publisher. Walker hired Dabney to write her biography, telling him, "You know Richmond and you know me. And I know that you will tell the truth. So tell it your own way." Uncommon in retail.