Black Business Leaders Series: A Remarkable Legacy of Firsts, Maggie Lena Walker

Growing up in the heart of the Confederacy, Maggie Lena Walker started work as a laundress at age nine. At the urging of her mother and mentors, she turned to education, and used it to propel her life forward — graduating high school at 16, working as a teacher, and learning accounting. Those experiences, coupled with her strong work ethic, culminated in Walker rising to lead the Independent Order of St. Luke and found several other businesses, all of which created jobs and opportunities for many women and blacks where there had been none before. Harvard Business School professor Tony Mayo discusses his case, “Maggie Lena Walker and the Independent Order of St. Luke” regarding Walker’s remarkable legacy of firsts, and the courage and strength it took for her to forge a path forward for herself and those she served.