The Rise and Fall of The Freedman's Savings Bank

And its Lasting Socio-Economic Impact on Black America

Rodney A. Brooks

• Publisher: Spiramus Press
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781913507527
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: African American History
• Index: History

The author tells the history of the Freedman's Savings Bank, how it grew much too quickly, why it failed and the impact on Black America. The end of slavery in the United States left thousands of enslaved people with the need to survive the transition to freedom, including food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. They would also need education, money and financial services. In 1865 Congress passed legislation to create the Freedman's Bureau to provide those services. It also created the Freedman's Savings Bank. Large numbers of the formerly enslaved people had been paid for service in the Union Army - the first time many had cash. And they had no safe depository. The Freedman's Bank offered that, expanding quickly and gained millions in deposits - mostly ranging from $5 to $50. But inexperience and corruption doomed it to failure, costing may of the small depositors their savings. Some of the biggest issues facing Black consumers today may be able to trace their roots back to this debacle, from the historical distrust in banks to the racial wealth gap.

Table of contents

• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: A bank failure 150 years ago still haunts Black America today
• Chapter 2: A brief history of slavery in the United States
• Chapter 3: Black soldiers fought for, and died for, America from the beginning
• Chapter 4: The war ended, bringing misery and chaos. But the Freedmen’s Bureau brought help…and hope.
• Chapter 5: The Freedman’s Bank grows. But did it grow too big, too fast?
• Chapter 6: A closer look at the bank’s depositors
• Chapter 7: It all comes crashing down
• Chapter 8: Long-term repercussions of the bank’s failure: the racial wealth gap
• Chapter 9: The long-term impact of racism on the health of Black Americans
• Chapter 10: Black Americans and poverty
• Chapter 11: The Bank’s collapse still impacts Black America’s relationship with banking ‒ 150 years later
• Chapter 12: The Freedman’s Bank and the impact on Black housing wealth
• Chapter 13: The impact on financial literacy
• Chapter 14: Black Americans and debt
• Chapter 15: The racial wealth gap and the impact on Black business
• Chapter 16: Reparations, baby bonds and other solutions to the racial wealth gap
• Chapter 17: Wringing hope from a sea of hopelessness
• Notes