How Black Americans in the South Boldly Defied Jim Crow to Build Business Empires of Their Own

On a cool March afternoon in 1906, Maggie Lena Walker stood before the leading Black men of Richmond, Virginia, and dared them to tame a beast. “My friends, there is a lion terrorizing us, preying upon us, and upon every business effort which we put forth,” she said. “The name of this insatiable lion is prejudice.” Walker’s voice boomed on the final word. An enterprising woman, the 41-year-old had grown a small…