Pictured include, left to right: Dr. Lorraine Cole, US Treasury, Thasunda Duckett, CEO, Chase Consumer Bank, John Hope Bryant, Founder, Operation HOPE, US Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting, US Deputy Treasury Secretary Justin Muzinich, Charles Payne, Fox Business News Anchor, NCUA Chairman Rodney Hood, Kenneth Kelly, CEO, National Bankers Association, FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams, OCC Senior Deputy Comptroller of the Currency Grovetta Gardineer and US Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Bimal Patel, prior to first ever Freedman’s Bank Forum at the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, DC.

“History never feels historic when you’re sitting in it. It just feels like another day. But that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t historic.” John Hope Bryant

This Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020, marked the 155th anniversary of the Freedman’s Bank, part of the larger Freedman’s Bureau legislation of March 3rd, 1865, signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln after the Civil War, and arguably the best president the nation has ever seen.

The Freedman’s Bank was chartered by Congress, and signed into law by President Lincoln, with a mission to ‘teach freed slaves about money,’ as well as to give them a safe place to domicile their savings, and to gain access to capital.

It is beyond noteworthy, that President Lincoln, after the worse war on American soil, brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor, state against state, decided that one of the most important thing s he could do, was to ‘teach freed slaves about money.’ To help to truly make them free, by bringing them fully into the free enterprise system. unfortunately for history, and for all of us, President Lincoln was assassinated the next month, and the bank’s legacy simply feel apart after that. By 1874, the bank was no more.

But before the bank failed, it confirmed the work ethic, the industrious nature, and the interest in savings, of everyday African-Americans. More than 70,000 depositors put every dime they had, totally $52 million, or more than 100B today (which would make it one of the top 10 banks today based on assets). It had 38 branches, covering 17 states.

The bank was even later run by a legend, by the name of Frederick Douglass, who put $10,000 of his own money into the bank ($20 million today), providing that silver rights and civil rights, have always been equal partners in societal change.

This Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020, in the Cash Room of the US Treasury Department, Operation HOPE was honored to partner with the US Treasury, Secretary Mnuchin and Deputy Secretary Justin Muzinich, to stand up the first ever Freedman’s Bank Forum, to honor the legacy and unfinished work of President Lincoln, Douglass and freed men. It was also the 155th anniversary of the founding of the Freedman’s Bank itself.

The Forum also marks the Treasury Department’s commitment to at the very least acknowledge the anniversary of March 3rd, the Freedman’s Bank annually, and to likewise serve as a framework for advancing access to capital, access to opportunity, financial literacy, financial wellness and wealth building strategies for the future.

Our Moderator Charles Payne from Fox Business speaking during the opening plenary with the full panel — Kenneth Kelly, CEO, First Independence Bank, Thasunda Duckett, CEO, JP Morgan Chase Consumer Bank.
Kenneth Kelly responds to a question during the panel.
Thasunda Duckett and John Hope Bryant share an important but light moment during the opening session for the Freedman’s Bank Forum.
US Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting and his chief deputy, Senior Deputy Comptroller Grovetta Gardineer, and John Hope Bryant of Operation HOPE, take in the proceedings from the second session from the Freedman’s Bank Forum.
John Hope Bryant shares an introspective moment post Freedman’s Bank Forum in the office of US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin.
The men who helped to make the Freedman’s Bank Forum happen — US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, John Hope Bryant, Founder and CEO of Operation HOPE, and US Treasury Deputy Secretary Justin Muzinich,

Pin It on Pinterest