By January 1955, the national office was able to announce the establishment of a war chest at the Black-owned Tri-State Bank in Memphis. With funds deposited by the NAACP and other groups, including organized labor, the bank was able to make loans to some Mississippi activists in danger of losing their homes, farms, or businesses. Within a few months the fund had grown to over a quarter-million dollars. When Mississippi banks saw that people were able to get loans out of state, some of them began making loans again.
