Category: Cooperative Economics
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What did it cost to bury someone in 1947?
A 1947 funeral statement from Pocahontas, Virginia, reveals just how costly a funeral could be for working families. The $567 bill, equivalent to roughly $8,480 today, helps explain why mutual aid societies were so essential to Black communities across Central Appalachia.
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Maggie Lena Walker and Blacksburg: A Legacy of Economic Empowerment and Community Building
Maggie L. Walker’s leadership in the St. Luke Order and her bank inspired Black communities across Virginia, including Blacksburg, promoting economic independence, civic engagement, and generational empowerment.
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Cooperative Economics: Maggie Lena Walker
Imagine your great grandmother crisscrossing the state with other women to collect “pennies, nickels, dimes,” for deposit at a Bank owned and operated by a Black woman. Those coins were not just money–it was a political act of defiance. It was the “agency” of hundreds of Black men and women seeking to build their dream…