A Right Worthy Woman

April 15, 2023
Watson chronicles more than 50 years in the extraordinary life of Maggie Lena Walker, the first Black woman to charter an American bank. When she's 12, narrator Maggie Mitchell finds her life upended when her father is found floating facedown in the James River in Richmond, Virginia. Forced to grow up fast, Maggie helps her grief-stricken mother in her laundry service and soon begins attending meetings of the Independent Order of St. Luke, a humanitarian group for Black people in the community. Here, Maggie eventually meets and marries Armstead Walker, a man who admires her self-sufficiency, and they go on to have three children. Over the span of five decades, Maggie's unwavering dedication to improving the lives of Black people is depicted in meticulous detail. Her efforts to expand the Order, eventually taking over its leadership, and her triumphs in establishing both a newspaper and the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank are challenged at every turn. Maggie weathers physical assaults, intimidation by White businessmen, and colorism from her darker-skinned peers, yet she remains dedicated to her causes even amid personal tragedies. Historically minded readers will enjoy the accurate details here; Maggie's life is anchored around concrete dates that add context. Others may be disappointed by the expositional prose and dialogue. There are conversations between close friends that feel more like public speeches, as do parts of Maggie's narration: "Negro women, hemmed in and circumscribed with every imaginable obstacle in our way, blocked and held down by the fears and prejudices of whites--ridiculed and sneered at by the intelligent Blacks. Let us all advance." In addition, the time span means some milestones are given only glancing treatment--Watson shines when conveying Black patrons' joy at finally having an emporium that caters to their needs, yet the passage is all too fleeting. At the same time, repetition takes up precious space. Armstead's vacillation between approval and dismay at Maggie's not being a typical housewife grows tiresome after the umpteenth mention. Still, Watson's love for Maggie shines through. A stirring fictional account of a remarkable figure that's occasionally hampered by wooden prose.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 15, 2023
Watson shines a long-overdue spotlight on the extraordinary life of Maggie Lena Walker, who worked tirelessly for the benefit of Black women and families in the wake of the Civil War as leader of the Independent Order of St. Luke. Determined to see economic justice and equality for her fellow residents in a Black enclave of Richmond, Virginia, Walker led a citywide boycott of segregated streetcars and founded a newspaper, a department store, and, most notably, the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, becoming the first African American woman to charter a bank and serve as its president. Her single-minded determination never wavered in the face of racism and sexism in the Jim Crow South or such personal hardships as the accidental death of her husband at her son's hands. Watson concentrates on Walker as an historical figure, enthusiastically providing a wealth of information about her many achievements. A good match for fans of Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray's The Personal Librarian (2021) and Tracey Enerson Wood's The Engineer's Wife (2020).

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 22, 2023
Watson (Cranberry Winter) offers an illuminating if straightforward fictional biography of pioneering African American banker and entrepreneur Maggie Lena Walker (1864–1934). The story begins in 1876 Richmond, Va., when Maggie’s father dies under suspicious circumstances and her mother suspects his killing was racially motivated. The Independent Order of St. Luke, a Black fraternal group in Richmond’s Jackson Ward neighborhood, helps the Mitchells pay for the funeral. The order’s commitment to the community so impresses Maggie that she becomes a member. After working as a schoolteacher for a few years, during which time she makes a point of educating young children about the value of money, Maggie meets Armstead Walker at one of the order’s meetings. In him, she finds a man who works equally as hard as she does and supports her endeavors. Through WWI, the 1918 flu, the Great Depression, and the passage of Jim Crow laws, Maggie makes Jackson Ward thrive, opening a bank and a department store that both cater to Black customers and earning the neighborhood the nickname “the Black Wall Street of the South.” Though the story is simplistic, Watson adds plenty of drama as Maggie perseveres in dangerous situations involving physical intimidation from white men. This appealing portrait would be perfect for a high school classroom. Agent: Marly Rusoff, Marly Rusoff Literary.