JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================oK" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?$A3kgV{A°9frz?ֹ-66I չ¬bFxv.7V6l9$נG]'n}"tjseE9l3;TZoLji 1 FYF4m:6 ̬{rF~Ur>Ui#ֻ#WbPXF"cI#Ӟ ͲΛvgzT`Eoe FO3pkд^G2*Yy$We(D۳+z%8z-Hy2+6xhy?\5Ap;1Kț#7l5 sU}~CQӎU8`qj._V;^#Ad_;CaszWWAChVC,a+Szͥچ"# u}#\Y "YOcڦ04Τr+>,;YS] \ĘR[zWb3HPN+5!a.؇:B:q?E ;FLZ}x[1WacMYT_QFh$|ƾZMIyk%͡Hed~5 2Qg^Mf>u,Uh8ZM9o4阍P "%jP:|մ*e63Ww *qE$+ݯ4Geq*E$ZV$`g$uk>4 ,gb;` A=FsrN 0\$栭Lѯi\sP:lc☺w XIq?,="=zԉa<֌'+*W`n$#bKGH.nm;E8eZe *T\/uQg~bwnp+zaB22@%}:{xCI#n{ujKO),Yݎq™FPFM+ZGn}kN(W=M.֑*[ey*1O֭H>PNJh/@3UH#i3u""Gv>yC JQVfJ*J(4XT5^{+ M:pbTk>%YY|ϼJcNKx1E$|C>OD D[ޫVC;gz`(le 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 of families. She put together an inspired plan for the daunting task of compiling all these records into a useable forma