Today In Black History: October 17, 1888 Capital Saving Banks Opens
On Oct. 17, 1888, Capital Savings Bank, the first bank organized and operated by African-Americans, was founded in Washington, D.C. Capital Savings BankCapital Savings helped stimulate Black entrepreneurship by offering loans to Black-owned businesses and landowners when white-owned banks would not. Confidence in the bank continued to grow, and, by 1892, deposits were estimated at $300,000.
Although Capital Savings Bank closed its doors in 1902, it became a model for other Black-owned banks across the country. Between 1888 and 1934, 134 Black banks were established, and from 1867 through 1917, the number of Black businesses increased from 4,000 to 50,000, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System reports.
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In April 1957, Johnson Hinton came upon a couple of police officers who were clubbing a man named Reese V. Poe on the corner of 125th Street and 7th Avenue in Harlem. Hinton called out to the officers: “You’re not in Alabama – this is New York! ” The police then turned their nightsticks on Hinton clubbing him and cracking his skull. The officers subsequently handcuffed Hinton and took him to the 28th precinct stationhouse. By the time the evening arrived, over 2,000 people were surrounding the precinct demanding that Hinton be provided with adequate medical attention.
Johnson X Hinton, it turns out, was a black Muslim who belonged to Mosque Number Seven, the largest mosque in the country – led by a 31-year-old preacher named Malcolm X.