Reconstruction Robbery: The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedman’s Bank

On Monday, February 10, 2025, historian Justene Hill Edwards, in conversation with Teaching for Black Lives co-editor Jesse Hagopian, will discuss Edwards’ book, Savings and Trust: The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedman’s Bank, a comprehensive account of the Freedman’s Bank and its depositors.

Well-researched, brilliantly analyzed, and compellingly told, Savings and Trust brings to life the dramatic expansion of America’s racial wealth gap with a focus on Black resourcefulness and trust and white betrayal and plunder during Reconstruction.
— Kidada E. Williams, author of I Saw Death Coming: A History of Terror and Survival in the War against Reconstruction

Justene Hill Edwards is an associate professor of history at the University of Virginia. Her work explores the intersection of African American history, American economic history, and the history of American slavery. Edwards’ first book, Unfree Markets: The Slaves’ Economy and the Rise of Capitalism in South Carolina, explores the economic lives of enslaved people, not as property or bonded laborers, but as active participants in their local economies. She is working on A Short History of Inequality, which will interrogate the ways in which inequality has pervaded and structured American life.

ASL interpretation provided.

Professional development credit certificate provided upon request for attendees.

These online classes with people’s historians are held at least once a month (generally on Mondays) at 4:00 pm PT / 7:00 pm ET for 75 minutes. In each session, the historian is interviewed by a teacher and breakout rooms allow participants to meet each other in small groups, discuss the content, and share teaching ideas. We designed the sessions for teachers and other school staff. Parents, students, and others are also welcome to participate.

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