Believe-in-You Money

CHAPTER 5

Shared Risk versus Risk Averse

MONUMENT OF A CRIME¹

Department of Justice Deserts a Fateful Building

Washington Post 25 June 1899

FAILURE OF FREEDMAN’S BANK

Big Brown-stone Building Across from the Treasury

Was Once the Depository of the Savings of Thousands

of ex-Slaves—Real Estate Speculation Ruined the

Institution, with Which Many Noted Names Were

Connected—Caused Much Distress.

Above is the opening line from an article about the former headquarters of the Freedmen’s Savings Bank, the onetime depository institution chartered by the United States to assist the economic participation of newly freed Black Americans—supporting their ability to save money, their integration into an economic society, and their overall financial development. ...