JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================]K" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?\ץStXZx*UV$*^ങ|5nHDM+ۙdE?I036)1\^}jZi oadޡF6z}Zf=P!v2p=*Rڼ#?fJ\/O9YV&ʜ jZ'fUe*aWtZ%aG(x*>mS2/e 9~USº%4(!0űOPjhUWX/4q;r:fvFv:GYI~8erFW[ɦwS$rp]퍨2H*jrK&r'U$G1$t=Gm> EibsSEz|S};[0`{tJ =Er5wrFڼ_jQ,pH +*k5u=ӦŖF 7W]]gK7vZmUVPXOYksD,P%8ejʹ & VB> YN=6^}\n's]6^QL-g'ɉS+ C[kCJ* p~jf Tf+SP-Uwڥ~\#!ph)g?āLcO {U2"W ϥUj2[ЎE \5mP!IڗcQҖ9^X)hIndmv%s;f:4vu/>ԿL@865. 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 indexes. The microfilm con