Allen, Eliza

c. 1840–1910 · Contribution: 1888

Only woman listed on the founding charter of the first chartered African American-owned bank in the United States

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Business & Misc.

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Business & Misc.

Impact on the world

At a moment when both her race and her sex were barred from the machinery of American banking, Allen's name on that charter marks the documented beginning of Black women's participation in the U.S. financial system.

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Sources

  1. Book or scholarly work

    Columbia University Press, Shennette Garrett-Scott, 'Banking on Freedom: Black Women in U.S. Finance before the New Deal' (2019). [Note: this peer-reviewed monograph remains the sole substantive independent source naming Allen

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