Reclaiming the Legacy: Why the Freedmen’s Savings Bank Must Return to Freedmen Control

In 1865, at the close of the Civil War, the United States Congress chartered a financial institution designed to help newly freed Black men and women build wealth, own land, and establish a path toward true freedom. That institution was the Freedmen’s Savings Bank.

What began as a promise of empowerment quickly turned into one of the greatest financial betrayals in American history. Over 70,000 formerly enslaved men, women, and children deposited their hard-earned savings into the bank—only to have it mismanaged, exploited, and ultimately destroyed by negligence and corruption. When the bank collapsed in 1874, the Freedmen lost more than just their savings—they lost trust, security, and a future that had finally felt within reach.

Today, that betrayal still echoes. The name of the Freedmen’s Savings Bank has been used, reused, and misused by government officials and corporate actors for initiatives that have nothing to do with the descendants of the very people it was created to serve.

That ends now.

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The Freedmen Reparations Fund Trust: Reclaiming What’s Ours

The Freedmen Reparations Fund Trust (FRFT) has formally launched an initiative to reclaim The Freedmen’s Savings Bank and restore its control to those it was meant to empower: Freedmen Successors—the lineal descendants of persons emancipated from chattel slavery in the United States.

On March 15, 2025, certified letters were sent to the U.S. Treasury, Congress, the President of the United States, and other federal officials, requesting the formal, no-cost transfer of The Freedmen’s Savings Bank’s name, institutional framework, and symbolic legacy to the Trust.

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Why This Matters

The Freedmen’s Savings Bank was never supposed to be a brand for broad diversity programs. It was not designed to serve immigrants, minority groups, or generalized equity efforts. It was built for a specific people—Freedmen—whose wealth was stolen by the very systems meant to protect them.

The demand is not just symbolic—it’s structural. Control of the Freedmen’s Savings Bank must return to the Freedmen, not just as a historical correction, but as a living instrument for reparative justice. Under the Trust, the Bank will never again be misused or repurposed for agendas unrelated to the unique lineage-based harm done to our people.

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What We’re Fighting For

• Legal control of the Freedmen’s Savings Bank institution and name

• Full oversight and governance by the Freedmen Reparations Fund Trust

• Use of the Bank to support Freedmen-owned businesses, land acquisition, education, and wealth-building

• A permanent end to the political exploitation of our ancestors’ legacy

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Our Message to America

This is not just about a name. It’s about honor, restitution, and rightful stewardship. The U.S. government failed the Freedmen in 1874. The Trust is making sure that failure does not repeat itself in the 21st century.

The Freedmen’s Savings Bank belongs to us. Its control should not be up for debate. And its future—our future—will no longer be in the hands of those who never paid the price for what was lost.