On Thursday, May 15, at 6 p.m., Justene Hill Edwards, Ph.D., will present a lecture based on her latest book, Savings and Trust: The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedman’s Bank. In the years immediately after the Civil War, tens of thousands of formerly enslaved people deposited millions of dollars into the Freedman’s Bank. African Americans envisioned this new bank as a launching pad for economic growth and self-determination, but only nine years after it opened, their trust was betrayed and the Freedman’s Bank collapsed. In Savings and Trust, Dr. Hill Edwards illuminates the hope with which the bank was first envisioned and demonstrates the significant setback that the sabotage of the bank caused in the fight for economic autonomy.
The program will be held at St. Simons Presbyterian Church at 6 p.m. It will not be recorded or live streamed. The lecture is free of charge.
