GIVE HER CREDIT

When a group of women took financial matters into their own hands.

In the 1970s, American women had very little control over their financial lives. After marriage, they frequently needed their husbands to help them establish lines of credit, and before marriage and after divorce, they were often denied access to credit for things like mortgages and loans. Hoping to create a space “where everyone felt welcome,” a group of women came together to open the Women’s Bank of Denver. The members included Carol Green, who “had built a Weight Watchers empire” in the Denver region; Edna Mosley, a Black woman whose membership in the NAACP was informed by her own experiences with segregation; Wendy Davis, a councilmember who led a protest at the men’s-only restaurant at the Brown Palace Hotel; and Beverly Martinez, whose experience as a television show host gave her an inside look into Denver’s social issues. Together, the group faced ups and downs, including a delay on getting their charter approved and a rift that led to the resignation of some of the original committee members, including Green. In 1978, the bank finally opened under the leadership of LaRae Orullian, a Mormon banking whiz who’d been denied promotions at her former company and was happy to helm this new venture. The author’s upbeat, conversational tone and clear affection for the focus of her work render this a fast-paced and riveting read, even if digressions into characters’ backstories can at times take confusing twists and turns.

A fascinating history of a feminist triumph.