You Got Money in the Bank?

      Banking, for Native Black Americans, predates the Civil War by decades. Yet at every turn it was met with some for of discrimination, prejudice, resistance, and in many events destruction either politically or socially. Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, told several audiences in his speeches of 1831, "Money begets influence, and influence respectability."  "Influence, wealth, and character will certainly destroy those prejudices which now separate you from society."            Injustices like the transatlantic slave trade, the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705, the Meritorious Manumission Act of 1710, slaves being used for mortgage capital, working under contracts to purchase your freedom, the Anti-Abolition Riots of 1834, along with countless other acts can be directly correlated to the economic disadvantages blacks had imposed on them in America. 

     In 1864, General N.P. Banks, established the first military bank, Free Labor Bank, in New Orleans to provide a secure repository for black Civil War soldiers and formerly enslaved persons. The unclaimed amount left in this bank of $200,000, at the end of the Civil War was the catalyst for the development of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company in 1865. The bank was a private corporation it was not free from government oversight. Congress retained the rights to review books at anytime. Under the charter, at least 2/3's of the deposits had to be invested in U.S. securities, which included treasuries, stocks, and bonds, while the remainder held for any immediate needs. Unfortunately in 1867, when the bank moved it's headquarters from New York to Washington, D.C, a group of local politicians, bankers, and businessmen took control. Shortly after Congress amended the bank's charter, and the trustees made lots of risky loans, some with no collateral. They also transferred bad loans they made at other banks to the Freedman's Bank. When the Panic of 1873 hit, it basically destroyed any chances for survival of the Freedman's Bank and in June of 1874 the bank was closed despite all of efforts Fredrick Douglass.

     We proposed a financial revolution as one of many solutions to the problems facing Black Americans. Let's start by investing in our own banks, bring our financial resources together, and create the change we need for our community.

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