JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================fK" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?ZF95ֶ˨J$MT\RL#,!Nt+#̏H^O9-lOx ſƳ+H1f/aqhtKK]è"BBtzWĩ}&?RR ZOp:t2 !7zm!Ѧ ̊$3tb8ƙ{K#֏Fp Ϸt\4巩3撱R}Y\9Oֻ[(+C$\FEC-"I99z{V t[Bm$&Y m^.d: "t+6i5w_F ՈCYyUV+&*@#e HJy޵5:d)P>Y*ӥqj7l drsߥz|k{#kJsbTOv\,6[QF[= k?i8JY%e7?ƻ-OLagu n2{b3~TU>w9h6%i@JkKe$a+nC+?YC 6+ZIiF#M9F!K1Uؑ)R2 iIlY@TܿCY#e5pe+qi| C6-N*F V2g+Sߜ,:}lF+Qǩ h{?; iIFN!E\TwR&* è(~r\łbnUkfoJyk&>KysEѬn7J´fHō̜c5{^E>Ycvq=rOj蔗.䨻ܥFP~|V*#^>y#G^5>徝y=$x*|]nXF>nFk7WJp4otĂ_.F2Zw֕xvi 4+ó!&[S;uS~F5)]ׅ-5JEu\?ҭ'/5Sk cq9?i^71>q|/hs4s]"дȾ?Ք[ĿQXO&Xc)\EB R2(cSTlTOD4b]RXa5E @G$8lQE(=B rWhng more than $57 million. Nine years later, the bank collapsed through mismanagement and fraud, ruining the dreams of their trusting customers.<br>Despite the bank s tragic financial history, its legacy of record keeping remains priceless. An estimated 10 million African-Americans living today have ancestors who deposited money in Freedman s Bank. Bank workers recorded the names and family relationships of account holders in an effort to establish bank customers identities. In doing so, they created the largest single repository of lineage-linked, African-American records thought to exist. <br>Family history researchers have long known about the Freedman s Bank records. The originals are preserved in the National Archives. But the data on microfilm has been essentially useless because it lacked effective and reliable indexes. The microfilm contains mid-19th century family records of 480,000 African-Americans. <br> Marie Taylor discovered these Freedman s Bank records and envisioned African-Americans breaking the chains of slavery and forging the bonds`u֥bVv$kiE8Q($#55z}%IYZ<1 VΚx,x[7U͢C2FqS(8].i?`ǁ5#.+dg`H{jm+ #h>Օdtc'`xı^7Tnf$D5or?pn֦.dAG+8szCȓ^շDɁv5r$2 vAײ7b(!rsGZ*ʘ2c/dP yewd~=,>>WE 6<"#(1< 6bWڊ~IݜW1ʡ9K89Z$oaY