Binga is the definitive full-length biography of Jesse Binga, the first blackbanker in Chicago. Born into a large family in Detroit, Binga arrived in Chicagoin 1892 in his late twenties with virtually nothing. Through his wits andresourcefulness, he rose to wealth and influence as a real estate broker, andin 1908 he founded the Binga Bank, the first black-owned bank in the city.But his achievements were followed by an equally notable downfall. Bingarecounts this gripping story about race, history, politics, and finance.

The Black Belt, where Bingas bank was located, was a segregated neighborhoodon Chicagos South Sidea burgeoning city within a cityand its growthcan be traced through the arc of Bingas career. He preached and embodied anAmerican gospel of self-help and accrued wealth while expanding housing optionsand business opportunities for blacks. Devout Roman Catholics, he andhis wife Eudora supported church activities and various cultural and artisticorganizations; their annual Christmas party was the Black Belts social eventof the year. But Bingas success came at the price of a vicious backlash. After hemoved his family into a white neighborhood in 1917, their house was bombed multiple times, his offices were attacked twice, and he became a lightning rodfor the worst race riots in Chicago history, which took place in 1919. Bingapersevered, but, starting with the stock market crash of October 1929, a stringof reversals cost him his bank, his property, and his fortune.

A quintessentially Chicago story, Binga tells the history of racial change inone of the most segregated cities in America and how an extraordinary manstood as a symbol of hope in a community isolated by racial animosity.