If ever there was a time for community-building and cultivation, that time is right now. Though the need to strengthen our communities is apparent, many are left wondering exactly what can be done or what role a single person can play to ultimately generate a lasting impact. Here’s a start: housing your hard-earned money in black banks.
Black-owned banks have perhaps never before been in so bright a spotlight, nor have they drummed up so much excitement in the African American community until recently. The revived interest is considered to have been sparked by the words of rapper Killer Mike during a widely viewed Town Hall meeting held by MTV and BET. “We can’t go out in the street and start bombing, shooting, and killing. I encourage none of us to engage in acts of violence. I encourage to take our warfare to financial institutions,” he said during the event.
Killer Mike went on to propose that 1 million people should open $100 accounts with black-owned banks. And people did. In fact, OneUnited Bank thanked Killer Mike personally for giving rise to the #BankBlack movement. OneUnited Bank, which is the nation’s largest black-owned bank, posted on its site that 12 months after Mike’s economic call-to-arms, over $50 million in deposits had been made to black-owned banks.
Black banks, in turn, have been trying to modernize, and woo black millennials. Mechanics and Farmers (M&F Bank), the North Carolina financial institution founded in 1908, created a Millennial Advisory Board, to understand the banking needs of the younger generation.
The following is a listing of the headquarters of African American banks, according to the National Bankers Association
List of Black Banks
ALABAMA
Commonwealth National Bank
2214 St. Stephens Rd.
Mobile, AL 36601
CALIFORNIA
Broadway Financial Corp. (Broadway Federal Bank)
5055 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 500
Los Angeles, CA 90036
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Industrial Bank
4812 Georgia Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20011
GEORGIA
Citizens Bancshares Corp. (Citizens Trust Bank)
75 Piedmont Ave. NE
Atlanta, GA 30303
ILLINOIS
Illinois Service Federal (ISF Bank)
4619 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive
Chicago, IL 60653
LOUISIANA
Liberty Bank & Trust Company
P. O. Box 60131
New Orleans, LA, 70160
MARYLAND
(Harbor Bancshares Corp.) The Harbor Bank of Maryland
25 West Fayette St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
MASSACHUSETTS
OneUnited Bank
100 Franklin St., Ste. 600
Boston, MA 02110
MICHIGAN
First Independence Bank
7310 Woodward Ave., Ste. 101
Detroit, MI 48202
NEW JERSEY
City National Bank of New Jersey
900 Broad St.
Newark, NJ 07102
NEW YORK
Carver Federal Savings Bank
75 W. 125th St.
New York, NY 10027
NORTH CAROLINA
M&F Bancorp Inc. (Mechanics & Farmers Bank)
2634 Durham Chapel Hill
Durham, NC 27707
TENNESSEE
Citizens Savings Bank & Trust Co.
1917 Heiman St.
Nashville, TN 37208
Tri-State Bank of Memphis
4606 Elvis Presley Blvd.
Memphis, TN 38116
TEXAS
Unity National Bank
2602 Blodgett St.
Houston, TX 77004
-Editor’s Note: The BE articles cited were originally published in July 2016 and May/June 2017