Our History, Black History: Freedman's Bank

There is an adage that states, “You never know where you are going unless you know where you have been.” In the spirit of Black history month, the Monroe Dispatch will highlight stories and the history of Blacks that are not commonly known. The end of the civil war between the Union and the Confederacy brought newfound opportunities for Blacks in America. The Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 signaled Blacks in the U.S. were no longer required to work for free as enslaved people. Although enslaved people were freed in 1865, many did not receive notice of the...