Emerald City Bank was a short-lived successor to Liberty Bank, the first principally Black-owned bank in Seattle. Liberty Bank was founded by a group of leading figures in Seattle’s Black community in partnership with Japanese and Jewish community leaders from the Central Area. It opened on May 31, 1968 with 518 stakeholders, most of whom were Black people of limited financial means. The bank was located in the Central Area at the corner of 24th Avenue and East Union. Unlike most other banks at the time, Liberty Bank did not engage in racially discriminatory lending policies (redlining). Instead, it lent to Black and other racial minority communities who were otherwise excluded. In the 1980s, Liberty Bank suffered from financial difficulties and it closed in 1988. Liberty Bank was succeeded by Emerald City Bank, which was also owned by members of racial minority communities. Emerald City Bank was sold to Key Bank in 1993. In 2015, the Liberty Bank building was torn down and replaced by affordable housing.

This image shows Emerald City Bank a few days after it opened on June 17, 1988.

Caption information source: “Liberty Bank Seattle Washington (1968-1988) and Liberty Bank Building,” by Diane Pien, BlackPast, retrieved from https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/liberty-bank-seattle-washington-1968-1988-and-liberty-bank-building/