After 1865, most black banks opened in the American South. They represented an important feature in black economic life, particularly after the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision. The Great Depression, however, forced all but a handful of these financial institutions into insolvency. Our Good Fortune: A History of Black Banking in the American South argues that the everyday activities and rhythms at work inside the bank have not always been recognized for what they might tell us about community dynamics. Nevertheless, it became an important space where race, class, gender, institution-building, and reciprocity regularly played out. The black bank as an institution was filled with drama, disappointment, misunderstanding, celebration, tragedy, theft, strategy, growth, and democracy. These sites of black economic life represented the possibilities and strivings of black people and contributed to a thriving separate black economy. These financial institutions offered real and imagined pathways toward black economic independence. Moreover, a network of black banks helped train generations of black professionals and supported the establishment of new banks across the region.