A white teller of the Chelsea Exchange Bank who went on to write a dissertation on black-owned banks in the 1930s explained that his bank received a “tremendous amount” of money from black customers. He also observed without apology that, “All of this money is transferred downtown to the home office where it is loaned to white customers.”62 He defended this practice as one that was properly followed by most banks because they wanted to ensure their loans were “one hundred per cent sound.” According to him, safe loans could be made much more easily to their white customers because “the Negro is
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