Fifteen Cents on the Dollar: How Americans Made the Black-White Wealth Gap – From Tulsa's Black Wall Street to Greenwood Banking and Racial Justice

by Louise Story, Ebony Reed

A sweeping, deeply researched narrative history of Black wealth and the economic discrimination embedded in America’s financial system through public and private actions that created today’s Black-white wealth gap.  Greenwood, a new digital banking platform headquartered in Atlanta, founded by and for Black and Latino communities in 2019, has deep roots in American history. It was named after the Greenwood business district in Tulsa, Oklahoma, known at the time as “Black Wall Street,” where in 1921 a white mob destroyed scores of successful Black-owned businesses, murdering and injuring hundreds of Black residents, in what became known as the Tulsa Race Massacre. This was a significant juncture in the course of American history, but hardly an anomaly. Twelve Cents on the Dollar details a number of these junctures where the American financial sector, government, or both made decisions that carried profound repercussions for Black Americans and their money. From the first enslaved Africans being traded on U.S. soil in 1619, to the passing of the 13 th amendment in 1865 and the subsequent prison-industrial complex boom, to widespread redlining in the 1930s and reform failures in the 1960s, the 2008 Recession and the government’s overwhelming prioritization of white people in dolling out assistance, American history is rife with racial and economic injustice. And though Greenwood’s success remains to be seen, a clear-eyed chronicling of the bank’s early days—and the historical circumstances from which it emerged—will provide new insights on American economic equity, Black business ownership, and models for widespread and lasting change. Authors Ebony Reed and Louise Story have shaped coverage on race and the American financial system at the New York Times, the Detroit News and the Wall Street Journal for decades; now, in Twelve Cents on the Dollar , they tell the story of how these staggering injustices came to be, and how hope for America’s future is inextricably linked to our acknowledging its past.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Economics, Social Justice, Race, Audiobook, Politics

464 pages, Hardcover

First published June 18, 2024

Reviews

[Guthrie C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fifteen Cents on the Dollar is a well researched, adeptly written and eye-opening book. The authors weave the story of Black American wealth through the history of our nation, of specific firms, and of specific individuals. Their wide ranging research blends personal impacts, macroeconomic forces, cultural histories and microeconomic impacts to fully explore and illustrate the Black-white wealth gap’s origins and factors contributing to its continuance.

The variety of its approach keeps you engaged as a reader and provokes multiple critical analyses as you comprehend each historical layer and their interactions in actual events happening to individual Black Americans.

I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy learning about less told histories and understanding second-order effects of policy choices, as well as those who seek to better understand our world through the eyes of individuals.

[Neela · Rating 3 out of 5]

dnf 50%…

i was really intrigued by this book but i had a lot of problems with it:
1. the focus on individuals as examples of a broken system was not done well. the authors spent too much time on people’s individual stories to the point where it felt like i was reading memoirs with financial facts sprinkled in

2. the generalizations. “poor” “affordable” what do these mean? the authors use the same terms to describe people in the 1920s versus people in the 1990s. using income descriptions or at least percentiles would help conceptualize the data a lot more. especially when generation progression is so important, these vague descriptions don’t make the data sound credible

3. the marketing of the book is wrong. it should be more explicit that the book focuses on atlanta or greenwood bank. if it was really an american wealth gap book, there would be more focus on the impact of geographical regions on wealth, how racism has different forms based on location, etc. the inner flap description made it sound like a book focusing on all regions of america

4. more emphasis on facts. some extremely interesting facts were dropped and then moved on without explanation. ex: “a study found that white felons were more likely to be employed than black non-felons.” and then the paragraph completely moved on to a different topic. this is the kind of research that i wanted! how was this tested? did they find bias during resume screenings versus interviews? how was the system set up? etc.

[Beth Harpaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ebony Reed and Louise Story's book "Fifteen Cents on the Dollar" is an extraordinary work of journalism, economics and history. It's about the wealth gap between Black and white Americans. I thought I knew something about this topic, but the causes and barriers to solutions are much more complex than I had imagined.
Particularly compelling are the many contemporary individual stories that the book chronicles in detail, through in-depth (and deeply empathetic) interviews, which really illuminate just how overwhelmingly difficult it is for Black Americans to get on solid economic footing — even when they have decent jobs — because of the legacy of slavery and institutional racism in government and corporate policies, the criminal justice system, real estate, banking, employment and everyday situations.
Warning: This book is not for the faint of heart. There's no happy ending and there's no pat prescriptions for solving this problem. But it's a thought-provoking and important book. Highly recommend, and bravo to the authors for an impressive feat of reporting and writing.

[Jessica - How Jessica Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled a bit with this one -- it felt erratic to me. Parts were very interesting -- and reminded me of The Sum of Us, which I loved. Parts (like the parts about Greenfield bank) went on WAY too long.

The basic premise is: showing how routinely the American tax / banking / home valuing systems are racist, thus hurting Black people.

Let alone the lack of reparations for slavery, the financial injury to Black people has continued into the modern day. Injurious practices include:
--red-lining
--the bailing out of white-owned banks (but not Black ones)
--taxing investments (which more white people have) at a lower rate than regular income
--etc, etc, etc

The authors use the lives of various Atlanta natives to demonstrate these forces at work.

[Shana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is filled with stories, history, data points, and the sincerity and introspection of the two authors is admirable. That being said, while this clearly reflects many years of research this could have used that magical editor hand to make more coherent the jumps from individual case stories to broad history, etc.

Most centrally this is the story of Greenwood Bank, the need for it, its promise and failure to deliver.

[Rolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

A journalistic exploration of the causes and contemporary manifestations of the racial wealth gap. It is rather centrist in its writing, not really critiquing our existing capitalist structures--but that might make it more palatable to a wider audience that could benefit from reading it.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional journalism on a topic that touches all Americans but still goes unacknowledged by so many. Through comprehensive reporting and narrative storytelling, authors Story and Reed outline the causes of the wealth gap and potential means to close it.

[Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched and this book has so much in it. I have a Greenwood account and have never used it and I know have a greater perspective on what was actually going on. This is the type of book that I might read again as there was so much here.

[Robyn]

Notables 2024 #135

[Margaux Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly illuminating. An invaluable resource for allies to understand systemic financial oppression in this country.