From the Maggie L. Walker National Historical Site:
Maggie Lena Mitchell was born in Richmond, Virginia July 15, 1867. Her mother, Elizabeth Draper, was a former slave and assistant cook in the Church Hill mansion of Elizabeth Van Lew, a Civil War spy. Later Elizabeth and her husband William Mitchell moved the family to their own home in an alley between Broad and Marshall streets where Maggie and her brother Johnnie were raised. After the untimely death of William Mitchell, Maggie's mother supported the family by working as a laundress and young Maggie helped by delivering the clean clothes.
Learn more about Maggie L. Walker, free from the National Park Service.
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