Last year, it ranked third on Black Enterprise magazine's list of top black-owned banks.

As the largest black-owned bank in a city whose population is two-thirds black, Liberty would be in a perfect position to help.

Some items are reminders that Robinson was a corporate executive and helped found New York's only commercial black-owned bank.

In response, the merchants promised, among other things, to hire more blacks and to deposit some receipts in black-owned banks.

He is on the board of a black-owned bank.

Broadway Federal grew to become the second largest black-owned bank in the United States.

The challenges for Citizens highlight the precarious position of many black-owned banks.

And some large urban areas are without a major black-owned bank.

Mr. Dukakis has also sent such signals as the depositing of campaign money in black-owned banks.

Like black-owned banks, they served a community that was often discriminated against by mainstream American institutions.