The Mechanics and Farmers Bank (abbreviated as M&F Bank) is an American bank owned by M&F Bancorp, Inc based in Durham, North Carolina. It served as one of the most influential African-American businesses in North Carolina in the 20th century.
History
In 1907, Manassa Thomas Pope and M. A. Johnson, African-American academics from Raleigh, North Carolina, traveled to Durham to look into the possibility of establishing an African-American construction and loan association. Local African-Americans liked the idea, but they also desired to establish a bank. Seven African-American businessmen in Durham—William Gaston Pearson, Richard B. Fitzgerald, J. A. Dodson, S. L. Warren, James E. Shepard, John Merrick, and W. O. Stevens— raised $10,000 to start a banking institution. Joined by R. Hawkins, they secured a charter from the North Carolina General Assembly to incorporate the Mechanics and Farmers Bank on February 25, 1907. The bank's incorporators and stockholders held their first meeting on July 29 and elected Fitzgerald, Merrick and Pearson president, vice-president, and cashier of the bank, respectively. The Mechanics and Farmers Bank began operations on August 1, 1908, serving the public out of the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association's headquarters in Hayti, the black business district in Durham. White managers from other institutions frequented Mechanics and Farmers Bank during its first week of operations to assist its employees. After North Carolina Mutual opened a new headquarters on West Parrish Street on December 17, 1921, the bank moved its offices to the first floor of that building, sharing the space with the Mutual Building and Loan Association. The bank's stated policy was to provide "no large loans...to a few profiteers, but rather conservative sums to needy farmers and laborers."