Summary: Yet another “hidden figure.” Maggie Lena Walker was the first woman in the US to charter and run a bank. She has apparently appeared in all of Watson’s novels, and this book shares the full story of her life, beginning around 15 years after the end of the Civil War and running through the Great Depression. In Richmond, VA, once the capital of the Confederacy, Jackson Ward, where Walker lived and where the book is set, was sometimes known as the Black Wall Street or the Black Harlem of the South–and much of that was due to the hard work and determination of Walker.

What’s to Love? The story. I greatly appreciate the work and effort Ruth P. Watson put into researching and bringing Walker’s impressive life to the attention of readers. I also appreciate that the editor, according to her online bio, is “passionate about championing underrepresented voices.” Maggie Lena Walker’s story is one that needs to be told.

What’s to Leave? The editing. As an editor myself, I understand that editing is hard, often undervalued, very delicate work. I often describe it as putting together the pieces of a puzzle in just the right way to create a beautiful picture. The picture is beautiful, to be sure, but in some places the pieces don’t seem to fit quite right.

What’s to Learn? A lot! This is what moves me to give the book 4 stars. If, like me, you had never heard of the streetcar boycott (51 years before the Montgomery Bus Boycott), the New Negro Movement, and the “Lily Black” election campaign, then you have much valuable information to gain from reading this book.

Conclusion: If you liked the series “Self-Made” about Madame C. J. Walker (no relation to Maggie), you will enjoy this book. Maggie Lena Walker is a name that needs to be known.

*The Advanced Digital Copy I read was provided by NetGalley and Atria Books in return for my honest review.

Maggie Lena Walker saw the racial issues her city faced through the eyes of a young girl, and sought to change them. This is a moving book of about determination and strength.

Ruth Watson’s A Right Worthy Woman is intended to introduce Maggie Lena Walker (1864-1934) to a wider audience. An entrepreneur, bank founder and president, publisher, businesswoman, and political activist, Walker indeed should be better known. The daughter of a formerly enslaved woman, Walker used her significant talents to advance economic and political opportunity for African Americans in Richmond, Virginia, at the height of the Jim Crow era’s wholesale efforts to disenfranchise and terrorize Black citizens. She ran the Order of St. Luke’s benevolent association, created and published a newspaper associated with the organization, and was the first woman to found a U.S. bank—which served African Americans and which she managed successfully through economic crises that decimated other banks (it still operates today). The story acknowledges the constant obstacles in her path—both as an African American woman steadfastly blowing past ever-present racism and sexism, and the significant tragedies that her family suffered. Watson’s book is an excellent and engaging account of both Walker’s achievements and the social and political context in which Walker operated. The only off notes are ones of repetition, including multiple hero-worshipping references to Elizabeth Van Lew—a wealthy white woman in Richmond who aided the Union by spying on the Confederacy, and in whose home Walker’s mother was a cook. Van Lew’s story, too, is currently receiving well-deserved attention, but it seems doubtful that her example truly played such a dominant role in Maggie Walker’s remarkable life of self-determining agency.

An enlightening story of the life of Virginal Black Wall Street, as it unfolds the life of the daughter of a previously enslaved woman that goes on to be the first black bank owner. From the beginning of the story, the character is full of life, questions and a desire to BE. A moving story sharing the relentless endeavors undertaken by a black woman that grew up questioning life and how she could have more.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance reader copy of A Right Worthy Woman in exchange for a fair review. This review will appear immediately on Goodreads.
Bringing into the spotlight another strong but likely unknown trailblazer, Watson introduces us to Maggie Lena Walker, who essentially was a community leader in a multitude of ways - creating the first black run bank in the United States. Living in a confederate state not long after the end of the civil war, black Americans struggled to get ahead having little access to fair stores, banking and businesses. Walker, who was decended from a freed slave and a white northern man, used her smarts and prowess for business to stand up for her community and help create a bank in the Jim Crow era.
Her story is remarkable and one we should know about. She has lived an interesting and sometimes shocking life. Watson tells the story in a way where the reader is drawn in quickly and wants to follow Maggie's story through.
I think this would be a fine book club pick. The story does have some trigger warnings, especially in the treatment of black people in the south during Jim Crow, however it is otherwise clean wth no language or terribly graphic violence. I will recommend it to patrons.
4*

As a black woman, I am embarrassed to say this was my first time hearing the name Maggie Lena Walker! This book read as fiction and nonfiction somehow. I loved it! What an inspiring woman! This is also the first time I’m hearing of the Jackson Ward community!

I enjoy reading books in this genre. I was intrigued by the story of Maggie Lena Walker. the book was interesting, however, the writing style was at times, difficult to follow. I also think it was repetitive in many places, telling the same story of fact. The book could use some editing to shorten and make the story flow more seamlessly

Maggie Lena Walker was a force of nature. What she accomplished in her lifetime is awe inspiring. Ruth P Watson does an amazing job getting Maggie’s life onto paper. I was a bit worried as I have gotten a bit lost in the past when books have delved into histories surrounding banking and finances but Watson has laid it out clearly, getting across the brilliance Maggie had while not losing the reader. This book follows Maggie and her family from the end of the Civil War as she works to rise her family and the black community of Jackson Ward in Richmond Virginia,above the laws and prejudices placed on them by the government and the white community. She went on to be the first African American woman to charter a bank, which is the tip of the iceberg of her accomplishments. An informative and fascinating work of historical fiction. Releasing on June 12 2023 I definitely recommend picking up this one. Thank you to Netgallery and Atria Books for providing me a copy of this book for review.

This one was highly anticipated for me, as someone who loves the life and legacy of Maggie Lena Walker! I enjoyed seeing her story laid out in such striking detail. This was clearly well-researched and carefully expedited. It read more historical than fiction — the narration stuck to facts at the expense of description, at times. But overall, I’m so glad Walker’s story is in the world in this form!

As a librarian in Virginia, I am naturally drawn to fiction and nonfiction that is set in the Commonwealth. Ruth P. Watson will undoubtedly introduce many to Maggie Lena Walker, a driven and formidable Black woman who fought for the rights and dignity of her fellow neighbors in the Jackson Ward neighborhood in Richmond. Whether it was through streetcar protests, leading a newspaper production, establishing a department store, or being the first Black woman to create and run a bank (which is still in existence today), Walker lead a fascinating, brave, and sometimes deeply tragic life. Watson captures her spirit and determination beautifully, and I look forward to reading more terrific books by this author!


\Many thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love how historical fiction introduces us to hidden figures, such as Maggie Lee Walker in this book. She was a passionate and selfless woman who spent her life trying to make life better for the African Americans that lived in Jackson Ward in Virginia in the late 1800s and early 1900s. She was the first black woman to run a bank but that is not her only accomplishment. The author takes us on an amazing journey of Maggie's life from her childhood and learning how to run a successful laundry business from her mom after her father passed away to getting her teaching degree to establishing and running a bank, emporium and newspaper in Jackson Ward. Maggie never let a 'no' stop her and never let someone else tell her what she could or could not do for her family or community. I could go on and on, but I would rather you go and read this wonderful book and learn for yourself what an inspiration Maggie Walker was in this book.

Thank you Atria Books and Net Galley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.