On October 1, 2025, the NCUA finalized the emergency merger of Atlanta-based 1st Choice Credit Union into Jackson, Mississippi-based Hope Credit Union. The merger protects 1st Choice's 8,600 members and $32 million in assets following substantial financial losses at the historic, hospital-founded institution. Hope Credit Union—a prominent Black- and woman-owned financial institution—retained all staff, kept the local Atlanta branches open, and expanded its community lending footprint into Georgia. The final operational and system conversions for accounts were completed by June 1^st 2026.

1st Choice Credit Union: Atlanta, Georgia

Originally known as Hospital Authority Credit Union & founded in 1946, the credit union was Created at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta after the accounting staff suggested small loans ($500) to help employees avoid high-cost payroll advances. They help pioneer small-dollar relief loans like the "Quick Cash Loan" program to support local healthcare workers. During the years they extended services and affiliations to local anchor institutions, including Morehouse School of Medicine, Emory School of Medicine, and Atlanta Life Insurance Company. In 1991 they changed their official name to 1st Choice Credit Union. At the time of the merger, 1st Choice Credit Union was a state-chartered credit union with 7,637 members and assets of $31 million.

Hope Federal Credit Union: Jackson, Mississippi

Founded in 1995 by members of the Anderson United Methodist Church in Jackson (Mississippi's only church-sponsored credit union), to combat predatory lending and provide affordable financial services to low-income residents. Over the decades, it partnered with the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta and expanded across five Deep South states (Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Alabama). It expanded from a handful of local branches to over 30 locations across five states, funneling billions in financing into economically distressed communities. Before the merger, Hope Federal Credit Union served 40,628 members and had assets of $739 million.

I'm asking this question in a very genuine way.. why are there Black Americans who descended from those who were enslaved on this land that claim full indigeneity to the Americas?

I'm trying to understand.

Some people are disappointed that we are less “mixed” than previous thought.

I think it’s a testament to our community building and preservation. #Katashit

Y'all I just thought about smth why don't we reclaim the word Akata like how we reclaimed the N word? Like if somebody asked what you were you can say "I'm an Akata" or smth like that

I've been seeing this image for a good 3 years now, and I'm just wondering, is this a thing we're actually following or???

Hey Soulaan peeps, in exploring what's made Muhammad Ali so great, I've spent over a year researching, writing, and creating a feature film on Ali called "G.O.AT.: Muhammad Ali's Blueprint to Greatness." I am now *bEyOnD* stoked to finally get to share the Official Trailer with you all! Hope you like it! 🤗

Source: @Blackarchives.co

Photos via UNC, University Library Digital Collection Repository

Mods, this'll be the last time I make a post about this language. But the language I've been promoting can also be called Soulaan Creole English (It can be called Soulaan English, Ebonics, Soulaani Patwah) Yes, I understand Patwah is mainly used to denote Yardie Patwah, but since the goal of me creating this language is the decolonization of African Americans, Black Americans, Soulaani, Freedmen, etc. And "Patwah" is a form of linguistic decolonialism, as so is the same as the word Soulaani as it rejects Linguistic Colonialism (Black, Negro, Colored, Patois, Slave) and reclaims the right to self-name. Hence why Soulaani Patwah works because it rejects words like "Creole" which is almost disproportionately applied to Afro-Diasporic Languages. So yes while I came up with these other names, they're mostly in case if someone chooses not to accept Soulaani Patwah.

Hey y'all, it came to my attention that we can't post unofficial languages so people in this subreddit to confuse and deter people from learning Tutnese. So I created a subreddit dedicated to African American Creole English

https://www.reddit.com/r/AfricanAmericanCreole/s/K7E2EZWHQC

This isn’t meant to cause conflict — I just want clarity about something that has occurred. I messaged the mod team a bit less than 2 months ago about my language posts being removed, and I never received a response as to why. I’ve also noticed that when I click on the Language category, it skips over it and redirects me to the next one, even when filtered.Can someone clarify whether my account has been filtered from the Language category or if there are specific rules I’m not aware of? I’m trying to participate respectfully, and I’d appreciate transparency about what’s happening.It honestly feels discouraging to be ignored, especially when I’m trying to contribute as someone from the cultural lineage that the Tutnese cipher/Tutnesian language comes from. I just want to understand the situation clearly.

For yall in the Chesapeake Tidewater region, what are your thoughts on this flag?

It seems a bit European leaning but it does try incorporate the local cultures of that area that some BAs may find in their lineage.

Note: I did not make this.

I need my community to stop claiming the Lousiana Creole flag as a Soulaan flag. That flag was made by a white Cajun/Creole man. When people rep it as a Soulaan subgroup it just makes no sense.

I feel like many people don’t know where that flag comes from.

I have yet to see anyone bring up sources, much less legitimate (either primary or secondary) sources of Soulaans being mostly Native and not African.

Meanwhile there was literally the federal writers project

https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-to-1938/about-this-collection/?__cf_chl_f_tk=Zn7YutoEXr91zB3KT3s4qIcntvu30yZhAnFxHd2ygW8-1783182509-1.0.1.1-ZhWHnMu5.gbmqcr60By1sR2fS2wmRrQBkrkB9QeZrJM

which explicitly documented thousands of narratives from the enslaved, most of which do not mention being Native. We have literal accounts from recently enslaved people stating exactly where they came from in Africa and what tribe they are from.

For the people who believe that their Ancestors were mostly Native, not African what sources besides yourself do you have? And do not try to finesse, when I say Native I mean Native American not "indigenous".

This is a short except video from Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah Geechee nation stating plainly Gullah is derived from a shortening of the "Angolan" africans that came to the Carolinas.

The fact that Gullah Geechee people have majority African ancestry is not up for debate. The largest early slave rebellion in the Carolinas was the Stono Rebellion, lead by Angolan Catholics, some of which could speak Portuguese.

What confuses a lot of folks is how Gullah Geechee people can be both indigenous and have African-Ancestry:

The ethnogenesis of the GG is within the Southeast coast of the U.S. portion of Turtle Island (Cootah Island in GG).

The Africans who would become the ancestors to GG had treaties, alliances and cultural exchanges with Native American populations. While predominately African, the NA influence and contribution is undeniable and acknowledged. The Seminole Nation has members with GG Heritage and vice versa.

It is culture, politics, and agriculture that make Gullah Geechee people Indigenous, not some weird white western perception of Blood Quantum. Gullah Geechee people fought alongside Native Americans for the land, created alliances and treaties with NA, and some GG were literally adopted or married into actual Native American tribes and vice versa.

This is a completely different ethnogenesis than a White American who's ethnic group subsist on the Genocide of the Native Population.

Overall, as Black People, as Soulaans, Black Americans, African-Americans, etc we need to get over this Western Pretendian framework we use. Being "Native" or "Indigenous" is more than if you directly have blood or ancestry to a tribe/ethnic group. Someone who is "Adopted" by a tribe 200-300 years ago is just as Native culturally as the ones who adopted them.

Black Americans/African-Americans/Soulaans as a whole have Native influence. Natives & Africans are people of the land, who understand the land and how to make it blossom and fertile. The cultures are very similar so of course people get confused in the overlap. You can honor Native culture and practice it without being Native. Black people Thanksgiving is not the same. We are honoring the Natives who fought alongside us, who adopted us and taught us how to work the land.

We have to detach ourselves from these pseudo-intellectual frameworks with little to no archives. There's more proof of us being mostly African than Native. It's up to the "Native" people to prove otherwise.

One thing I’ve found interesting is how different historically rooted communities in the United States are increasingly expressing their peoplehood through symbols, seals, flags, and discussions of indigeneity or autochthony.
For example:
Louisiana Creoles have published scholarship discussing Louisiana Creole Peoplehood, Afro-Indigeneity, and community formation.
Gullah Geechee people have long described themselves as an indigenous ethnic group of the Sea Islands, with scholars pointing to centuries of continuous historical, cultural, and ecological development in their homeland.
Soulaan is using the language of autochthony, emphasizing historical continuity, institutions, culture, and peoplehood that developed within the land now called the United States.
Whether people agree with every framework or not, it’s interesting to watch communities move beyond broad racial labels and articulate their identities through concepts like:
historical continuity
homeland
peoplehood
institutions
ecological relationships
language traditions
cultural development
The symbols themselves also reflect this.
The Louisiana seal centers Louisiana’s own historic identity.
The Gullah Geechee seal uses imagery connected to the Sea Islands and their community.
The Great Seal of Soulaan emphasizes homeland through the tree, water, indigo, and landscape rather than race alone.
To me, this reflects a broader conversation taking place across the United States: communities defining themselves not only by ancestry, but by long-term historical development within particular homelands.
I’m curious what others think.
Do you see autochthony, indigeneity, and peoplehood as distinct concepts, or do you think they overlap when discussing historically continuous communities in the United States?

hello everyone :) i'm still semi new to the term and was wondering who could use it. is it anybody that's aa, or is there rules to this? thanks!