A stretch of Market Street will honor Emma Chappell, the first Black woman to establish a bank in Philadelphia.
The 700 block of Market Street also will be known as Emma Chappell Way to honor Chappell's contributions to the financial sector, which include founding the United Bank of Philadelphia. The designation was spearheaded by Chappell's daughter, Tracey Carter, and unanimously passed Thursday by City Council.
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Chappell, who died in 2021 at age 80, received five honorary degrees and hundreds of awards during her lifetime, Carter said during Thursday's session. But she said the street designation is the greatest honor her family has received.
"She was a pioneer, a visionary banker, a community advocate and civic leader," Carter said.
Chappell grew up in West Philadelphia and graduated from West Philadelphia High School before earning a bachelor's degree a Temple University and a master's degree at Rutgers University. In 1959, she got a job as a clerk-photographer at Continental Bank with the help of her pastor at Zion Baptist Church. In 1977, she became the first female vice president and the first Black vice president of a commercial bank in Pennsylvania. She led the institutions's community loans program, approving more than $30 million for Black-led enterprises, and founded the Philadelphia Commercial Development project.
In 1984, She served as the treasurer for Jesse Jackson's first presidential campaign. After that, she went on to raise $6 million to establish the United Bank of Philadelphia in 1992 at 714 Marker St., though it's now housed at 1501 N. Broad St. It was the first bank built and run by a Black woman in the city.
Chappell left the bank in 2000 and later worked as the director of the Rainbow Push Wall Street Project, which advocates for diversity in corporate America, and founded Altroy International in 2008. She also was named to then-Governor Tom Wolf's transition team as a financial expert in 2015.
"She was a strong Black woman, and what she wanted most for this city was for economic empowerment for the Black community to build churches, houses, businesses – and it's something that we're going to strive in her name to continue to do," said Joann Bell, the chair of the Black Women's Leadership Council, which she co-founded with Chappell.
The City Council resolution was introduced by Democrat Mark Squilla and co-sponsored by 15 other council members.
