Ardie Clark Halyard

Ardie A. Clark Halyard
Born	1896 Covington, Georgia, U.S.
Died	1989
Occupation(s)	Banker, civil rights advocate
Known for	First female president of Milwaukee NAACP; co-founder of Columbia Savings and Loan Association

Ardie A. Clark Halyard (1896–1989) was a pioneering banker and civil rights advocate who became the inaugural female president of the Milwaukee branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Early life

Born in Covington, Georgia, Halyard was the daughter of a sharecropper. She completed her education degree at Atlanta University. In 1920, she wed Wilbur Halyard. The couple initially settled in Beloit, where they established a local NAACP chapter before relocating to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1923. Upon their arrival in Milwaukee, they faced racially biased housing policies enforced by white realtors who deliberately restricted African American residents to designated neighborhoods.

Career

Together with her husband, in 1925 she launched Columbia Savings and Loan Association, Milwaukee's first black-owned savings and loan institution, which began with just a ten-dollar bill. This financial entity provided African American clients access to loans free from racial prejudice during an era when mortgage approval was nearly unattainable for them. To support the institution’s growth, neither Ardie nor Wilbur accepted a salary for the initial ten years. In addition to her banking responsibilities, she dedicated two decades as a director at Goodwill Industries while also handling bookkeeping and secretarial tasks at Columbia. By the late 1960s, Columbia’s assets had expanded to $4 million.

In 1951, Halyard broke new ground as the first female president of Milwaukee's NAACP chapter, dramatically boosting paid membership from 39 to 1,416 members. Her commitment to the organization extended through various roles including treasurer. Furthermore, she contributed her expertise to the Wisconsin Governor's Commission on the Status of Women.

Legacy

In recognition of her public service, she was honored with the United Negro College Fund’s Public Service Recognition Award in 1983.

Her and her husband's contributions are commemorated in Milwaukee through a park, a city street, and a neighborhood collectively known as Halyard Park.

External links

• Ardie Halyard Interview Transcript OH-31. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.