WASHINGTON, March 2, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

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SATURDAY, MARCH 2: FIRST BLACK-OWNED BANK

Profile America — Saturday, March 2nd.  The capital of the vanquished Confederacy was the site of the first chartered black-owned bank in the U.S., founded on this date in 1888 by former slave and Union Army veteran William Washington Browne.  It was known as the Savings Bank of the Grand Fountain, United Order of True Reformers.  The bank provided mortgage loans and other banking services that were difficult for African-Americans to obtain in the segregated climate after reconstruction.  When the bank opened, Richmond had a population of just over 81,000 people, 32,000 of them African-American.  Today, Richmond is home to over 205,000 people, just over half of them African-Americans.  You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.

Sources:  On This Day:  Legislative Moments in Virginia History
               Historical Statistics of the United States:  Colonial Times to 1970, p. 483
               U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button).   

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau