During the struggle of the civil rights movement as Black Americans fought for equal rights under the law in the United States, Citizens Trust Bank continued to mobilize its support for the community it served. Citizens Trust Bank opened its first branch, the Westside Branch.
This facility was opened in the community first developed by Heman Perry in the early 1900s. The Westside financial center remains open today as the bank’s main financial center location and a pillar of strength in the southwest Atlanta community. To help chart the bank’s course through the turbulent 1950s and 1960s, two legendary African American icons joined the board of directors, Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, president of Morehouse College and Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr.