JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================sK" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?J >~}렶KV2jJ'iCJ\raU{ +0qIb+EH$HO˓<3T.f+EE4]F0#_X"å;AZ.m:`` RZXSoj 8Wiͯzi9$58]}9~կb#^ja@J¬5Zt2ܘTmY9O^:RꚖx,/\[)̡p=xl:aՖ-9.[{a% гc׊(|Kie%ּU~ul*G}{#KnHӭ"C13WmD_`t)xܤ .+ j0m0+ӑ^+}6͋͢CHqn*sQW{ E=cw22gsgָy-n=B+KH.MixCj.ʌڭ)+ide#fP41YU[}Dd=k\Y$%zEP1"YsOJ7sZ]h_Y)&o1 }M, 'mDؤg5\jl'1۹RvP;i߸:{jKZTmg;٘q\eՔ²(1nf1? @z7dl}bxMOXK+t.\C&tSf+;bDjٚv"O5xR(rH_JXgRi;ңRv5"aWOHgMϡ\ԏFSFv6t#4|@2}E^Cwlќְ{m~3Z,چ6B]@u &}xMuӠ6C~JI+#N]AMm܁=袮BS%y4#RQMٛˮ զފ+)nqUy1;Eh:GÊ$mUzעgƮ$ping 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 stations. After 11 years, the project was completed in the form of a CD of the Freedman s Bank records. Another CD in the works which will be ready this year is t