Born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1864, Maggie Lena Walker grew up knowing firsthand the difficulties of life in the post-Civil War South. Walker was raised by her mother, a former slave, and at a young age, she developed an interest in improving life for African Americans and women. She joined the local council of the Independent Order of St. Luke as a teenager, and went on to serve on the board of trustees for the National Association of Colored Women and the Virginia Industrial School for Girls. In 1902, Walker founded the St. Luke Herald, and she established the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank the following year, making her the first African American woman to charter a bank in the United States. Read More
The park protects and preserves the incredible story of the Pullman Company, the Pullman Porters, and the rise of the labor movement in America.
The Pullman Company hired African American men as porters, known as Pullman Porters. The Pullman Porters were uniformed railway men who served first-class passengers traveling in the company’s luxurious sleeping cars. These jobs became well respected in the African American community and have become synonymous with the railroad company’s impeccable service and style. Read More
Their accomplishments included, but by no means were limited to, the completion of the first usable road into Giant Forest and the first trail to the top of Mt. Whitney (the tallest peak in the contiguous United States) in Sequoia National Park in 1903; and the building of an arboretum in Yosemite National Park near the south fork of the Merced River in 1904.
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Prior to the abolition of slavery in 1865, the Underground Railroad laid the tracks for escaped southern slaves seeking refuge in the north. The path to freedom was a treacherous one, with no guarantee of asylum waiting at the end. In honor of Black History Month, take a journey to some of the most historic sites of sanctuary found along the altruistic Underground Railroad. Read More
From Harriet Tubman’s monument in Maryland to the site of Martin Luther King Jr.’s march in Alabama, here are 7 national parks that preserve and commemorate black history. Read More
