JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================IK" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?̚qw̐*V 3%p2˓~`=m.I ӞOTƠ+,H-2u='7:m'E,~Z eXpI7ϭaC ?(C0PAT}^X5^ȓ pTLcqϠZ|jR 6"u2=j |1ii|Pf\4(d9JW--ܱ8o1=3嶛{6: ,3\mdWOzMgQ"Ng_޹]ޛxuvdU*ϱ> 𦗤u; J 8yʝ5s9>mK^Kcn\ }psGz]Vfeh H264g\ѵK*r8rvZòX).݆UګۚF&,Ple1*#FzwGu, c'6FUQ0]·qI[àUFZ=L biV@',ϟe֖V躌q4!1Eou,QDV!X!9QUdfEMݽ)"ÎIҴ.tKgP5m/$jm 1.IAU)qֵܥ{mOò6QӼX-,1ZV֬>%DK,Zlрlҍzu~ 5܍챟VDNpA54tX2_E P\h7"m5k~93Py$7O{{Pa#zrhՋn8-^/ 닫-6%w1t񦦄u Y0W|4Z9?t}@Y`syZ^M,2B<*1seh:,IDespite the bank s tragic financial history, its legacy of record keeping remains priceless. An estimated 10 million African-Americans living today have ancestors who deposited money in Freedman s Bank. Bank workers recorded the names and family relationships of account holders in an effort to establish bank customers identities. In doing so, they created the largest single repository of lineage-linked, African-American records thought to exist. <br>Family history researchers have long known about the Freedman s Bank records. The originals are preserved in the National Archives. But the data on microfilm has been essentially useless because it lacked effective and reliable indexes. The microfilm contains mid-19th century family records of 480,000 African-Americans. <br> Marie Taylor discovered these Freedman s Bank records and envisioned African-Americans breaking the chains of slavery and forging