C. A. Woodward. At this time, Woodward was preparing for publication a short treatise on the history of savings banks, in which he included his thoughts on the“ National Savings Bank for Colored People.” In it, Woodward celebrated the Freedman’ s Bank and its goal of bringing banking to the recently emancipated. He even lauded depositors such as Wright for their investments in the institution and for embracing the bank’ s messages that connected citizenship to the morality of saving and thrift. In fact, he wrote,“ It seems almost incredible, when we reflect that this money has been accumulated from the meager earnings of a people but recently emerged from slavery, who were necessarily in a condition of extreme destitution, and who since their liberation have been subject to a continuous system of fraud and pillage by their former masters.” Woodward’ s arguments for savings banking exemplified the experiences of African Americans who decided to open Freedman’ s Bank accounts. He probably did not fully appreciate the clairvoyance with which he deployed the language of“ fraud and pillage.” His insight, though, was prescient. Nevertheless, it was people such as Enon Wright who helped Woodward cultivate a deeper understanding of the bank’ s mission and of why the branches were so valuable to African Americans throughout the South.
In his conversation with Woodward about opening an account, Wright provided a variety of information. He gave his race as“ Black,” he was“ single,” which meant that he was unmarried, and he was a member of a large family that included eight siblings. He did not list the name of his employer or the plantation on which he lived because he worked for himself as a farmer, and he was a free man at the end of the Civil War in 1865. Importantly, Wright came prepared to make a substantial first deposit. By the end of 1868, the average deposit across the 23 branches was $ 69. Enon Wright deposited far more than that. His opening deposit was an impressive $ 1,000($ 21,200 today). He had accepted the bank’ s charge to“ Save the Small Sums” and“ Put the Money You Save into the Freedman’ s Savings Bank.” He joined the chorus of Black Americans eager to build their wealth through investing in the bank.
Enon Wright was not alone when he ventured into 41 Saint Michael Street. In fact, he was not the only member of his family to do so. His older brother, Epher, experienced a similar trajectory. By purchasing his freedom in 1847, a decade earlier than his brother, for $ 1,000($ 36,700 today), the 60-year-old Epher Wright entered the Civil War as a free man as well, and entered the bank branch in Mobile ready to open an account with a starting balance of $ 600($ 12,700 in today’ s dollars). Together, Epher and Enon Wright were two of the five people on July 20, 1868, who decided to take calculated gambles with their savings by opening accounts at the Mobile branch of the Freedman’ s Bank.
Together, the Wright brothers embraced the messages that the bank espoused: Black people’ s political and economic freedom through saving money and banking. The bank represented the promise of capitalism in the age of emancipation. And while that message encouraged depositors, it also spurred the bank’ s demise.
History of the Freedman’ s Bank
Established on March 3, 1865, and signed into existence by President Abraham Lincoln in the month before his assassination, the Freedman’ s Bank grew steadily in its first five years, with depositors from New York to New Orleans opening accounts and depositing their hard-earned savings into the bank’ s coffers. Between 1865 and 1870, African Americans deposited a total of $ 12.6 million($ 303 million today) into accounts at branches in states as far north as New York, as far south as Florida and as far west as Texas. By 1870, depositors had earned over $ 1.6 million($ 38.5 million today) from the bank in interest payments on their deposits.
Black depositors received clear messages from administrators about the advantages of saving money. These trustees and branch cashiers were Republicans who not only actively supported the Union’ s war efforts but also supported a free labor ideology that infiltrated the bank’ s advertisements within Black communities with bank branches.“ Save the Small Sums— Cut Off Your Vices— Don’ t Smoke— Don’ t Drink— Don’ t Buy Lottery Tickets— Put the Money You Save into the
Freedman’ s Savings Bank,” were splashed in Black newspapers and disseminated in Black communities across the nation, primarily in the former Confederate South. Designed to persuade depositors that morality and saving went hand in hand, the bank’ s predominantly white administrators worked to convince Black people to patronize local branches and deposit as much money as possible into bank accounts. The messages— and the propaganda— communicated to freed people that banking would help them climb the ladder to full freedom.
By 1874, depositors had collectively placed over $ 57 million($ 1.51 billion today) into over 100,000 bank accounts in 34 branches. By anyone’ s estimation, freed people made the Freedman’ s Bank one of the most successful financial institutions of the 19th century. For a short time, African Americans used the bank to build a stable economic foundation for themselves and their families after the 13th Amendment abolished legal slavery in 1865. During this time, the Freedman’ s Bank epitomized the economic power of African Americans unleashed from the bonds of enslavement.
In their public-facing messaging, the founders and trustees of the Freedman’ s Bank wanted to democratize finance, to make banking accessible to working-class and poor people. Bank officials believed that they needed to teach freed people about banking and finance to help them understand the responsibility and burden of freedom. This message formed the core of the bank’ s mission. The trustees and administrators circulated public messages to freed people about the federal government not helping them economically in their climb out of slavery. They urged Black people not to rely economically on the federal government and instead to cultivate a sense of self-sufficiency. By working for the bank and guiding its mission, administrators were agreeing to help freed people navigate the economic minefield that defined Reconstruction.
Bank administrators, however, did not fulfill the terms of their promise to depositors. Instead of offering simple banking services to freed people, the trustees decided to take a gamble. First, it was an illegal loan to a trustee in April 1867. Then, in May 1870, the bank’ s predominantly
www. MoAF. org | Spring 2025 | FINANCIAL HISTORY 15