Stories From Our Table - From Black Wall Street to Black Business Today

On Monday, July 27, Mayor Danny Avula and Richmond City Council jointly proclaimed August as Richmond Black Business Month, recognizing the vital role Black-owned businesses play in the city’s economic vitality, innovation, and cultural heritage. Dozens of Black-owned businesses joined city leaders at City Hall to celebrate the occasion. The proclamation also reaffirmed Richmond’s commitment to expanding opportunities for minority-owned businesses through business development, procurement, technical assistance, and strategic partnerships.

As we near the end of the month, it seems fitting to look back at the long history of Black enterprise in Richmond. Our story begins in Jackson Ward—but it certainly does not end there.

Most of us know the story of Maggie L. Walker and the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank. In 1903, Walker founded the bank and became its president, making her the first African American woman in the United States to charter and serve as president of a bank. Her vision was about much more than banking. She saw financial institutions as a way to build economic independence and strengthen Richmond’s Black community.

If you have never visited the Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site, consider taking a tour of her home on East Leigh Street. It is an opportunity to learn more about a woman whose business leadership, civic engagement, and commitment to economic empowerment helped shape Richmond and the nation.

But Maggie Walker was not the beginning of Black banking in Jackson Ward.

In 1888, William Washington Browne and his fraternal organization, the Grand Fountain United Order of True Reformers, received a Virginia charter for the Savings Bank of the Grand Fountain United Order of True Reformers. The bank became the first chartered Black-owned bank in the United States. It initially operated out of Browne’s home on West Jackson Street before eventually moving to the True Reformers building on North Second Street.

These institutions emerged in part because Black Richmonders faced discrimination and exclusion from many white-owned businesses and financial institutions. Rather than allowing those barriers to define their economic future, Black entrepreneurs created their own opportunities.

And they created a lot of them.

Jackson Ward became home to banks, insurance companies, theaters, restaurants, retail businesses and professional services. Second Street became the center of this commercial activity and, by the early 1900s, had earned the distinction of being known as “Black Wall Street.”

The story of Black enterprise, however, was never limited to the most famous names.

Our own family has a connection to this history. Our grandfather and great-grandfather, John A. Jackson, Sr., lived in South Richmond and worked as a latherer. But he also operated an early, part-time version of what we might today call a rideshare service. He began by using his father George Jackson’s horse and buggy. Later, after purchasing a car, he transported visitors from the bus station to Second Street, where they could enjoy good meals and conduct business without the fear of being turned away because of segregation.

It is a small family story, but it represents something much larger: Black entrepreneurship has always been about recognizing a need, creating a solution, and finding a way to serve the community—even when the larger system made doing so more difficult.

Over the years, many established Black-owned businesses that had roots in Jackson Ward expanded into other parts of Richmond. Today, that tradition continues in neighborhoods throughout the city. From Churchill to Stony Point, from Scott’s Addition to Brookland Park Boulevard and beyond, Black-owned businesses are becoming part of the fabric of their communities, creating jobs, providing services, building wealth and contributing to Richmond’s vibrancy.

And many new businesses—including ours—are choosing Jackson Ward as a home, in part as a nod to the remarkable legacy of commerce, creativity and community that was built here.

The Legacy Continues

One organization that understands both the legacy and the continuing challenges of Black entrepreneurship is Blck Street, formerly known as the Jackson Ward Collective/JWC Foundation. Blck Street’s mission is to equip Black-owned small businesses with culturally relevant programs and resources that build resilient operational foundations, foster meaningful connections, and unlock opportunities for growth, sustainability and community impact.

That mission reflects an important truth about Black Business Month: celebrating the history is important, but supporting the businesses writing the next chapter is just as important. Learn more about Blck Street and its programs at Blck Street.

The Black Wall Street of Jackson Ward was built by people who recognized that economic opportunity could be created even in the face of significant barriers. Today’s Black entrepreneurs are carrying that legacy forward—building businesses, creating jobs, serving their neighborhoods and imagining what Richmond can become.

This month let’s celebrate their accomplishments. But more importantly, let’s support them.