JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================gK" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?-A%VDӫTT8Q`qNC[{ ?1{ng)>Vv lEpX)7 t)s!;\;5ÏpzrҟjI,Ko\^\v:Τ!Hq4s);u~20r1Qhw1PSMM:5A!|p dB~ϨN݉>_wm<{[0ǧ#bJcLf8tZo$'w5)5 $iCv#ڭͨKo9YR=6celo󚯣zLAe\dqBrѿ0S/F鏛Sh#"`:@Ov[RMC1)25]D:mc}X$O]xHdzVcO5d6nATfrXdzkAUwzuO!=Jv$nzb/ ^x9 Ă#d'JMct\=ZF`uBĥ?֮w[֋pHYw)Bq#-onAi6()\1$-fٮH!啔}Q%-ꖫ6)欦EYҚk\9;c\q׫2)$a\j0zPhdmclz1E-Ȇ5MŒJ g\EJ0 zOAt6ǣc&UI'~MZqpT,䣿⧰x\oFhcqh<%knzG(HkijANȞfdGLC֠`?Oi4n-A֓d 42W,jǥ@mTMzD^-~GORԵ 4Bc\QSUQi/R)95$܄ 88}Eב\Vgi=Ć'ږISryT)+_i H pIizHՔGX\8Q+̇QEO"+`.A׆StXEEE=ʞz)f( Ortered in 1865. Its purpose was to offer financial freedom to legions of blacks, including many victimized by slavery. An estimated 70,000 customers opened and closed accounts at Freedman s Bank, with deposits totaling more than $57 million. Nine 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 inde