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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page research paper that draws on the essay "Plans Dat Comed From God" by Armstead Robinson, which examines how the newly freed blacks of Memphis handled the problems of emancipation in Reconstruction era. In analyzing their situation, Robinson relies heavily on the records of the Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company, as well as other municipal records. Examination of how Robinson used the records of the Freedman's Bank illustrates excellent historical scholarship, as it illuminates the nature and social structure of the black community in Memphis during this time. No additional sources cited.
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3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khfbar.rtf
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Reconstruction. In analyzing their situation, Robinson relies heavily on the records of the Freedmens Savings and Trust Company, as well as other municipal records. Examination of how Robinson used the
records of the Freedmans Bank illustrates excellent historical scholarship, as it illuminates the nature and social structure of the blank community in Memphis during this time. Robinson states that
the "signature books of the freedmans bank are critical" to his analysis because "they contain a gold mine of information" (77). During the period from 1866 to 1874, roughly 200
black organizations, which included everything from a college drama society to an emigration association, opened accounts at this bank (Robinson 77). Bank records required the listing of three officers, which
were usually the president, secretary and treasurer of the specific organization. Therefore, consulting these records gave Robinson over 350 names of individuals who were chosen from within the black community
to handle the internal affairs of that community. He states, "If any group comprised the leadership cadre of the black community in Reconstruction Memphis, then these blacks had to have
been it" (77) and this seems like a logical conclusion. Furthermore, because few former slaves possessed birth certificates, the Freedmans Savings and Trust Company had to devise a method
for opening accounts that took into consideration how to disburse the assets of a deceased depositor to that individuals heirs (Robinson 77-78). Therefore, the signature books of the bank contains
a treasure-trove of information from a historical perspective, data such as "name, age, sex, occupation, skin color, birth place, and previous residence" for over 6,000 depositors (Robinson 78). Many of
the organizational officers listed for black institutions also kept their personal accounts with the bank. Cross-referencing this data with other Memphis post-Civil War records provided Robinson with a broad "collective
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