Abstract: After the passage of milestone civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s, the United States experienced a rebirth in black banking. In particular, the emergence of new black-owned banks coincided with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Since the late nineteenth century, the majority of black banks operated in the South but increasingly these financial institutions cropped up in the North, Midwest, and West. This paper examines the social, political, and economic impact of black banking up against the backdrop of the black power movement in major cities across the country.
Comments by: Dr. Paul Ortiz, Professor of History and Director of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, University of Florida
Speaker
Brandon Winford (Associate Professor of History, University of Tennessee)