JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================y" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?T*8E} K fy(R݉1UdyI^(,M#>ҷ5)> lP8V6=FvDIp9Cry+ơ::m~0w wF69;ud Tld%ҭՈy5)4<<-Ys)E+))x8S&J1UTW"%cU;igFԅY>$a$~FNӽM >I<:ykVHj? a(άϵzox%;X*ؔz;]xcxI {R 'XϽMxPc?hO +* nƞu#12콫nC'0O8O֟ewvW&P"H؍sYKsB([Z+O4LۼUR4yش +; sVՇ4&h8fߚ5*Zx{K;ng*=cj8~i3M'ҁH*M&1 JHL\zrs/}OVI/, ޤt9ZTn!1Wh?ՑH޼{ΚX%Xt⩷͕d9Pn1 `稥6mv)%c+hl>40K. r!2(7d!Uj[Ю~xTN8J'ZE/֢w5+FkgrW"h*sEFBԊJRj8-HN E0%*p(p+Jy 1ڬq̗K,3zMkՎQGs$*gnk)7fks";m+3;2My܌x= J++Z08VlAJ^7ZZ 6=7' =*r,=NJ..^TIY"[wdqO[7֫}XOv{E\.w_Sk1 bZ0-1V{Co}١(OQ9ZgB`ny#UiV&AOu 0nve( *w4QaݏQR(-Hh`9E< hB(KH -L#ZA8 pkj6hLPQڂFڍԴfF8PhGE$"DeaF1SCHff1roJ"գҠ 4SQV#ustomers.<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 of inmates from the Utah State Prison. Approximately 550 prisoners donated their time to this project. They worked in a unique, three-room facility filled with microfilm and microfiche readers and 30 computer