Black History Museum (00 E. Clay St.): From Interstate 95 north and I-64 west, take exit 76A. Turn left at the light and then left onto Leigh Street. From I-95 South and I-64 east, take exit 76B. Turn left at stop sign onto Leigh Street. Either way, make a right onto St. James Street and follow to the end of the block.
Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site (110½ E. Leigh St.): From I-64 west or I-95 north, take exit 76A, Chamberlayne Avenue, and turn left at the light. Go to the first light and turn left onto West Leigh Street. From I-64 east or I-95 south, take exit 76B at Belvidere and turn left at the stop sign. Either way, look for the site on the left.
Black History Museum: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; visits are by appointment only. Maggie L. Walker NHS: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday; tours of the house leave the visitor center every half-hour with the last tour leaving at 4:30 p.m.
Black History Museum: $5 for adults; $4 for 55 and older, students, teachers; $3 for ages 12 and younger; free to members; group rates available. Maggie L. Walker NHS: no admission, donations accepted.
The first stop my friend Rebecca and I made was at the Black History Museum, where we were greeted by Mary Lauderdale, visitor services coordinator. She gave us background information about the museum before introducing a 10-minute film about Jackson Ward, an area called "a city within a city," "Harlem of the South," "The black mecca," "Little Africa" and "The birthplace of black capitalism." The district was home to the first chartered, black-owned bank in America, The True Reformers, and to several other banks and many more businesses, including hotels, restaurants, theaters, barbershops, law firms, insurance companies and photography studios. It brimmed with energy and activity.
The first floor of the museum shows the history of Jackson Ward, which, according to the 1920 census, was home to 93 percent of Richmond's African-American population. Newspaper clippings and portraits line the walls, and items from the district's black-owned businesses fill the floor. Sections also discuss the city's schools and churches, the Woolworth's lunch counter sit-in and civil-rights attorney Oliver Hill.
At the top of a winding wooden staircase, we found two ordinary-looking types of seating: a church pew and a section of bleachers. But they, along with signs proclaiming "We serve colored carry out only," "We cater white trade only" and "Colored served in rear," were concrete reminders of a time when where one sat, drank water or ate was not a personal choice. Farther on is an exhibit on Brown v. the Board of Education and the desegregation of America's schools. (The second-floor exhibit rotates.) Textbooks and desks from white and black schools, pictures of anti-busing rallies and of the Little Rock Nine being escorted to school by the National Guard and telling quotations from both sides of the desegregation debate give flesh to the facts.
A few blocks away, at the Visitors Center of the Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site, we viewed a short film that shows images from her life and neighborhood while she is heard speaking to a group of children. She was born as a free person right after the Civil War and grew up with a hard-working mother who washed and ironed others' clothing to feed her family. Young Maggie Mitchell learned the importance of perseverance, and its place in her life is evident. Her voice booms, "With education and determination, you can do anything," and she proved the truth of those words. Maggie Walker became the first female bank president in the United States and remained a strong force in the community even while enduring personal tragedies and debilitating health problems.
A tour of her house reveals the success she was able to achieve with a code of ethics that maintained there is "no reason why any man, woman or child should stand idly by."
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