JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================BK" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?e U5]NI҈]Rށm<"L'hϥp:!ؖ+ڲml?68zY4.Q],-myHaD+ˎk5M ]7ZҴY\\xR@}2Z5卥+7k>▶]͒ x3޻1H8bWf~Tr5X-I3X۵]UXsn2oiⱾ'E`J%T*֙zmt!i~bÜ:4mF&O M5(gA+#ץQ2$ieA\ZWn0DLW"laiYLIe㞣p9+<ѹx**Q4EO1pOiwxĶ%k t!R^Ux/25@XǑnk' .jN+NkV_7ˎ2q\50k@Q'oRqrq^6o F]8U٦i#Hv=1hI^5Z4֌4+Vk!*d=/Fp ϩf.sy 2EA?J玤=~g&Z{lL|Ҭ˞C /'g\3.l[h1TOZ/äjXr+ӦexB7r4; q*짴}gOҦkmn) x5*I..(3oi7T2M(P=jgelOnVjrZx.-m~Q2x_e?u Gh~`[ !f^5-q>kd \R8_h~!p\v@\]ş42: =Re=`6+j$MeN2 :\ƘT25[ridE~cQVH)+FӬp׽uGԂhk[LWTMrOҹ;4Despite 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 ta