VCC Summer 2017

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Later in life, Walker became paralyzed from the waist down by diabetes that would eventually lead to her death in 1934. To get into her limousine, she had a platform built from the house into her garage, where she was helped into the car by her chauffeur, Alfonzo. “Everybody called him Fonzo,” recalled Reid. At Christmastime, Walker would have Alfonza help her into that limousine. From there, she would take a pile of dollar bills, giving one to each of the police officers who were directing the traffic on Broad Street. “She’d get in her limo and give each police a dollar,” said Reid. “A dollar was a lot of money. You could buy almost a whole carton of cigarettes for a dollar.” “She was generous,” recounted Reid. “She was an entrepreneur but her organizations were more like benevolent societies. To build a building and have a printing press ... it took quite a bit of doing to do that as a woman in the early 1900s. That’s quite an accomplishment. She built her own building and employed women, and a few men. The men ran the printing press, but most of her clerks were women. She educated her clerks. This was a time when it was difficult to find work as a woman. She probably employed more women as clerks than any other business in Richmond.” Reid was nearly nine when Walker died in December of 1934. Her funeral, which Reid described as large and well-attended, was held at Richmond’s First African Baptist Church. Reid went on to become a surgeon, civil rights leader, and delegate. Today, he lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland. When asked if he had attended the recent unveiling of Maggie Walker’s statue

in Richmond, Virginia’s Jackson Ward, he said that he had not, although he had seen photographs. “I’m over ninety years old,” he reminded, saying again that he no longer lived in Richmond. “When I saw her she was paralyzed, so I never saw her standing up,” said Reid. “I was delighted to see that the statue shows that she was a lady of power and standing erect.” The statue symbolizes the power and dignity of Walker, rising as a mark on the city of Richmond. Lydia Freeman is a teacher at KIPP ENC Public Schools in Gaston, North Carolina where she pushes sixth graders to think deeply and engage with historical, social and political spheres while practicing reading and writing. She writes often, engages deeply in conversation with friends, and strives to live purposefully in her community.

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V irginia C apitol C onnections , S ummer 2017

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