William Reuben Pettiford (January 20, 1847 – September 20, 1914), was a minister and banker in Birmingham, Alabama. Early in his career, he worked as a minister and teacher in various towns in Alabama, moving to the 16th Street Baptist Church in 1883 and serving there for about ten years. In 1890 he founded the Alabama Penny Savings Bank, which played an important role in black economic development in Alabama and in the South during the 25 years it existed. Pettiford has been called the most significant institutional builder and leader in the African American community in Birmingham and the South during the period in which he lived. At the turn of the nineteenth century, he was called the next to Booker T. Washington, the black man who had done the most in the South for blacks.
Resources
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- William Reuben Pettiford – Encyclopedia of Alabama
- Did You Know Alabama’s First Black Bank Owner, William Reuben Pettiford, Was Born on This Day? – TheHub.news
- Retrospect: A look at the history of the Alabama Penny Savings Bank (businessalabama.com)
- William Pettiford – Bhamwiki
- https://ncfpc.net/2013/04/15/william-r-pettiford/
- “Tribute to Memory Noted Negro Pastor” [sic] (September 23, 1914) The Nashville Tennessean, p. 7
- Harlan, Louis R., Raymond W. Smock, and Barbara S. Kraft, eds. The Booker T. Washington Papers. Vol. 5: 1899-1900. Campagne, IL: University of Illinois Press. p. 388