Image Credit: Elyse Butler

Year: 2025

Text: On August 16, 1921, businessmen Heman E. Perry, James A. Robinson, Thomas J. Ferguson, W.H. King, and Henry Dugas (known as the “Fervent Five”), opened the African-American-owned and -operated Citizens Trust Bank on Auburn Avenue to serve Black Atlantans. The bank played a key role in the community, promoting business growth while facilitating homeownership for a larger number of African Americans. In 1934 the bank was the first African-American-owned bank to gain Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation membership, and in 1947 it became the first African-American-owned bank to join the Federal Reserve System. In 1955, Citizens Trust Bank opened its first branch location at this site. Today, Citizens Trust Bank is one of the United States’ largest African-American-owned financial institutions and remains headquartered in Atlanta while serving communities across the country.

Erected by the Georgia Historical Society and Citizens Trust Bank

Tips for Finding This Marker: At Citizens Trust Bank’s Westside Branch, its first branch location, on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Atlanta

For more information, click this link to view the press release.