JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================hK" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?GKy؆rN3&j/oO=Mtɥk 6չmHBqئ#Y:[O ݾtE>Zi oGf{蹪xQ~ ^qirGgfw=ۉ9J-."VO[74dkEs,r n>UXd($1 ?׃kYo#VNi4:KXhaYU[6pc+KA?e="-:/l?v~k˹Fq]ȮgcT1 '3RP$` :$oi+-zfkK*OA+zHq *I'}qM] %O*+xax$6;P~ЗQy b$,;]M%+#*wa7ǚ6lkXd9sR[X:E@nsT}`췀]"'\5 *\^Vtb\+[hk3,$? c)9QTO5 jBaOS RHc(o=1uévㅤSWy[ǩ'w5[LO.N6=:j\_]b&3LЩvUסcVP|Fj汽ӭE&\rkhoc 2Mz#ldrmހT4/CgtMڱט\?-, su+mP\03)'o@,Y@ 0[Zbd[PV̯c\[5&p܇Ej7w ZO(I k̀yַC'kt #ߎYCáu`N{K:[pqbۛ>J4'H $-WNqT4IeG jB槓W=}lqhO<*-rҴkyueYlx-9KK2e^ ̫,6 6|c4D\٘gi֢ت1ܻ}W-+pWq85W%VSH0:Yw(,m,P aS˜ ` ڭ= r[4^qkRy `{"T2sǥa+mҭjKFP>b8^Ľ[~J㚻LRϾ#J][=Z8Jm?@`r1|ڼ|LLI_WU<`CX[yPZzj1nSQ7nNp+GDi-Z̋ aM ;jҴߧHDY!8`OVg+*y/@3UH#i3u""Gv>yC JQVfJ*J(4XT5^{+ M:pbTk>%YY|ϼJcNKx1E$|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 format. The day-to-day efforts of extracting, linking and automating the 480,000 names contained in the bank records, were performed by a team o