We Were Never Financially Illiterate

Black families were never financially illiterate. They practiced financial governance through households, churches, mutual-aid societies, businesses, and community networks. The deeper problem was not a failure to understand money, but the power of institutions that controlled credit, property, valuation, and risk. The history of the Freedman’s Bank makes the distinction plain: Black depositors worked, saved, and trusted, while institutional mismanagement destroyed much of what they had built.