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Tribute certificate from City of Los Angeles in memory of Onie B. Granville

City of Los Angeles, American, founded 1835

In 1964, Onie B. Granville founded the Bank of Finance, the first African American-owned and operated state chartered bank west of Kansas City. Granville, a long time real estate broker in Los Angeles, formed the institution with other prominent African American community leaders in Los Angeles: Los Angeles City Councilman and later mayor Tom Bradley, real estate broker Lorenzo Spencer, businessman Wilton A. Clark, and physicians Dr. Perry Beal and Dr. Edward Ballard. In the face of discriminatory housing and financial practices, the Bank of Finance played an important role in financing Black homeownership and businesses in the Los Angeles area until it was purchased by another bank in 1984.

Date

September 9, 1998

Type

certificates

Medium

ink on paper (fiber product)

Department

NMAAHC

Institution

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Object number

nmaahc_2016.33.3ab

Credit

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Natalie Finney Mallard in memory of her Uncle Onie Burnett Granville