CHPN has word on the Armstrong-Walker Football Classic set for November.

In what would be great as the first in a series, this week’s Urban Views Weekly has a bio on Maggie Lena Walker in Early Black Entrepreneurs in Richmond:

After the Civil War, Virginia had the largest African slave population and the largest population of free blacks in the U.S., setting the stage for pioneering black entrepreneurs to prosper in “the Ward.” By the early 20th century, black-owned banks, insurance companies, newspapers and entertainment venues flourished in Jackson Ward alongside entrepreneurial African American merchants, barbers, beauticians, and restaurateurs.

A birthday celebration is set at the Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site’s visitor center for tomorrow, and tours will be given for the rest of the evening. A commemorative program will begin at 1:30PM at Sharon Baptist Church. The program will feature presentations on the St. Luke Hall and on Mrs. Walker’s life and works as Right Worthy Grand Secretary of the Independent Order of St. Luke. In related news, historians have announced findings that Maggie L. Walker National was born in 1864, not 1867 as had been thought.

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Music, refreshments and holiday decorations will be part of the free Christmas Open House at the Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site on Saturday, Dec. 8, from 2-4PM. Cider and cookies will be served during the holiday program in the visitor center, 600 N. Second St. For information or to make group reservations for 10 or more people, call (804) 771-2017, ext. 24. [via]

Joseph L. Williams, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Consolidated Bank is on a mission to get Maggie Walker’s portrait on a U.S. postage stamp. Walker, the first black female bank president in the U.S. and the daughter of a freed slave, was the founder and president of Consolidated’s predecessor bank. [via]

Explore four centuries of powerful history! Remember the era of Richmond’s slave traders, examine the role of free blacks and urban slaves, discuss the contributions of blacks during the Civil War, revisit the African American experience during Reconstruction and the Jim Crow era, and honor the impact of the lives of prominent Richmonders, including Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Maggie L. Walker, Arthur Ashe and Douglas Wilder.

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