Bank of America, the massive financial institution that practically runs the modern United States economy, was originally founded in San Francisco in 1904 by a man named Amadeo Giannini under the name Bank of Italy.

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Bank of America, the massive financial institution that practically runs the modern United States economy, was originally founded in San Francisco in 1904 by a man named Amadeo Giannini under the name Bank of Italy. Giannini created the institution specifically to cater to working-class immigrants who were routinely denied loans and basic financial services by the elitist, established banks of the era that only wanted to deal with wealthy individuals. After surviving the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake by hiding all the bank's cash in garbage wagons under piles of literal oranges, he eventually merged with another bank and rebranded the entire operation. It is deeply poetic that a megabank currently famous for aggressively slapping working-class citizens with predatory overdraft fees originally started as a humble charity project for impoverished immigrants