American executive Alonzo Franklin Herndon (18581927) founded the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, one of the leading insurers in the American South. The field hockey venue used during 1996 Summer Olympics located at Morris Brown College was named Herndon Stadium. } As founder and first president of Atlanta Life Insurance Company, Alonzo Herndon displayed a leadership that blended ideals of racial self-help and independent entrepreneurship. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. In 1922 the company was reorganized as the Atlanta Life Insurance Company and achieved legal reserve status, a position enjoyed by only four other Black insurance companies at that time. To make ends meet, Herndon and his brother worked in the fields as well alongside their mother and grandparents, and he had very little formal schooling as a result. In 1905, Herndon bought the business, then named the Atlanta Benevolent and Protective Association, and renamed it the Atlanta Life Insurance Company. Herndon received only a token amount of public schooling. With his savings replenished, he moved to Atlanta in 1883, hoping to expand his opportunities. } AboutPressCopyrightContact. Five years later he was one of the original members of the W.E.B. Henderson, Alexa. In his leisure time, he relaxed at an orange-grove estate he had acquired in Lake County, Florida, which he improved and sold some years later at an impressive profit. He was considered. Employees: 46,000 color:#494bbc; /*inline margin*/ From a very young age, Herndon worked as a laborer, and a peddler, to help support his family, as only his mother could work in the early years. Alonzo wanted to remind himself and others that even though he had become very successful he started out as a slave. FUN FACTS. } .flex-slider li .caption-content a{color:#fff;} Herndon was featured in The Crisis Magazine's Men of the Month in March 1921. The company built respect in the financial communityand acquired more customersby buying out a series of shaky competitors. She was a drama teacher at Atlanta University at the time. border: 1px solid #f4c85e; Famous for founding and heading the successful Atlanta Family Life Insurance Company, he is also remembered as the . .upcoming-events li { By the time of his death in 1927, Herndon was Atlanta, Georgias wealthiest African American and one of the first black millionaires in the United States. 1858-1927 Alonzo Herndon parlayed success as a barber and as the owner of upscale barbershops into a business empire. An African American barber and entrepreneur, Alonzo Herndon was founder and president of the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, one of the most successful Black-owned insurance businesses in the nation. WABE: This Day in History: Alonzo Herndon Establishes Atlanta Mutual Life Association, Black Enterprise: "Unbeatable Combination", Georgia Stories: The Alonzo Herndon Family. In mourning, he threw himself into managing his new business. His funeral was an extraordinary event in the city, and Atlanta Life's Memphis chief, George W. Lee, was one of a lengthy list of eulogists who paid tribute to the company founder. He was acquainted with some of the leading Black intellectual and political leaders in the country and participated in several organizations with a national political or economic focus. His home was included in National Historic Landmark in United States in 2000. }body,p{ Their son, Norris Bumstead Herndon, was born in July of 1897, and Adrienne made her stage debut in Boston seven years later using the name Anne Du Bignon. In 1882, he moved to Atlanta, and found a post with a highly regarded local barber. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. .flex-slider li .caption-content p{color:#fff;} [3], In 1893, Herndon married Adrienne Elizabeth McNeil, a professor at Atlanta University who helped him gain an education and refinement. A 1916 reorganization made Herndon's company a shareholder-owned one, but he held the majority of stock. He also invented his money in real estate. New Georgia Encyclopedia, 20 September 2004, https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/business-economy/alonzo-herndon-1858-1927/. Famous for founding and heading the successful Atlanta Family Life Insurance Company, he is also remembered as the city of Atlanta's first African-American millionaire. Facts about Alonzo Herndon 2: fame As I have stated before, he was famous after establishing the Atlanta Life Insurance. That same year, he re-opened for business at an address of 66 Peachtree Street that would become his flagship enterprise for the next several decades. Total Assets: $114.35 billion (1994) color:#5a5d5a; ::-moz-selection{ background:#f4c85e; As founder and first president of Atlanta Life Insurance Company, Alonzo Herndon displayed a leadership that blended ideals of racial self-help and independent entrepreneurship. Company "No story, no tragedy, no epic poem will be read with greater wonder or followed by mankind with deeper feeling than that which tells the story of his life and death," Lee said, according to Merritt's book. Age AintWhat?! 3. However, the date of retrieval is often important. His father was Frank Herndon, a white master. } Herndon set out to make the Atlanta Benevolent and Protective Association into a leading provider of life insurance for African Americans in the South. At that time, he was 7 years old. 20072023 Blackpast.org. #main-menu-wrapper nav .mega .thunk-widget-menu .menu a:hover { His insurance business reported more than $400,000 in assets in 1922. } Twice Herndon's businesses were destroyed by fire: once in 1896 after a gas stove across the street from the Markham ignited its building and leveled the hotel, and again in 1902 when his new place on Marietta Street ignited in a fire that destroyed an entire city block. All Stadiums England Premier League Championship League 1 League 2 National League National League North National League South All stadiums in England Premiership League 1 League 2 All grounds in Scotland Wales background:#494bbc; Herndon said he did this to support and empower Black businesses and their workers. One of the souths wealthiest men, he died on July 21, 1927. .read-more.read-more-slider a:hover{ Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. 2. Got an event or know of something opening in and around Atlanta? Featured Content. Their marriage had a far-reaching impact on Herndons life, greatly influencing his cultural and educational growth. It is one of a few structures associated with Herndon in Atlanta and the success he brought to the city. Web site: http://www.chubb.com He incorporated it as the Atlanta Mutual Insurance Association. According to the Atlanta Journal, Herndon and his all-Black barbering staff were known from Richmond all the way to Mobile as the best barbers in the South. Following the racial practices of the era, the Black barbers served an exclusively white clientele composed of the citys leading lawyers, judges, politicians, and businessmen. Herndon didnt stop there; he continued to buy companies throughout the South, gobbling them until Atlanta Life became the largest insurance company owned and operated by African American in the nation. 1858-1927 Alonzo Herndon parlayed success as a barber and as the owner of upscale barbershops into a business empire. font-size:38px; As his business blossomed, so did his clientele and influence around the city. Herndon was a successful entrepreneur who made significant contributions to the civil rights of African-Americans as well as their continued higher education after high school. Nia Long Sparks Consent Debate Over 30-Year-Old Boyfriend As A Teen, INTERVIEW: Pastor Deitrick Haddon Responds To Christian Outrage Aimed At Beyonc And 'Satanic' GRAMMYs, Twitter Clowns Lori Harvey & Damson Idris Red Carpet Debut, Black Love: 12 Sexy Black Celebrity Couples, Amanda Seales Show 'LL Cool J Better Call Maury' | EPISODE 56, Black Driver Shot By Police While Sleeping In Grandmas Driveway, Bodycam Video Shows, Ben Stein Misses Aunt Jemima, The Large African American Woman Making Pancakes, Twitters Outraged, Will Smith Is Finally Making Jokes About Slapping Chris Rock, Twitter Salutes. After a few months Herndon migrated to the town of Jonesboro, in Clayton County. } The job opened the door to his future. Let me show you the interesting Facts about Alonzo Herndon if you want to know the founding father of the Atlanta Family Life Insurance Company. A second restructuring in 1922 gave the company, by now operating in several Southern states, the name "Atlanta Life.". letter-spacing:0.4px; . Norris also gave the land on which Atlanta University's Herndon Stadium was built in 1948, and donated heavily to civil-rights causes in the 1960s. 260 14th St. NW In 1905 he purchased a failing mutual aid association, which he incorporated as the Atlanta Mutual Insurance Association. Regardless of the reason, his acquisition strategy made Atlanta Life one of the most successful black businesses in the nation by the 1920s. His success in barbering was spectacular, and as his earnings grew, he invested in real estate in Atlanta and in Florida. Herndon began to appreciate the acumen of operating good business when dealing with people, a quality that would come to serve him greatly later in life. color:#999; Merged with two other firms and renamed the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, the firm prospered. His son was more reluctant to follow in his footsteps, however, for Norris Herndon had inherited Adrienne's passion for the stage. }.footer-wrapper { By 1904, Herndon owned three barber shops in Atlanta, advertising one of them as the largest and best barbershop in the region. Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). 1. Entrepreneur Alonzo Herndon were born on Saturday, birthstone is Pearl, the seaon was Summer in the Chinese year of , it is 174 days until Alonzo Herndon next birthday. Herndon was four years old when President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, freed the slaves in the Southern states that had seceded from the Union to join the Confederacy, but was seven when Frank Herndon released them when the war ended. They had one son together, Norris B. Herndon. Mrs. Herndon and her stepson worked together in leading Atlanta Life to even greater success. "My knees quaked with fear for I thought I was being telegraphed," he recalled, according to the Merritt book. letter-spacing:0.4px; https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/herndon-alonzo-franklin, "Herndon, Alonzo Franklin font-size:14px; Progressive voices like Henry Grady promoted a more diverse economy, welcoming northern investment, while populists like Tom Watson believed the focus should remain on the needs of working Georgians, particularly farmers. An entrepreneur at heart, he learned barbering and eventually opened his own shop in Atlanta called the Crystal Palace and later founded the Atlanta Life Insurance Company. } Freed by the 13th Amendment, Herndon and his mother, younger brother, and maternal grandparents became sharecroppers. } border-color:#f4c85e; In 1915, he ventured into Alabama, and the acquired another Georgia insurance company, Union Mutual, the largest black-owned insurer in the state. In 1913, he signed a partnership agreement with a Kentucky firm, Standard Life. Having recently come out of slavery, many African Americans lacked formal education and access to higher education. He went to Jonesboro, Clayton County on foot. The firm grew rapidly in the 1920s, expanding its operations into a half dozen new states, including Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas. #move-to-top, .th_more_posts a#more_posts:hover, .widget .search-submit:hover, .search .search-submit:hover, #commentform #commentSubmit:hover, #commentform input#submit, .tagcloud a, .mc4wp-form input[type=submit], ul.paging li a:hover, ul.paging li a.current, input[type=submit]:hover{ Emancipated at the end of the Civil War (1861-65), he was sent away from his birthplace by his father. Warren, New Jersey 07061 color:#f4c85e; In 1878, at the age of 20, Herndon left his family and moved to Jonesboro, Georgia where he openedhis first barbershop. color:#fff;} Herndon's significant investments in property allowed him to improve a great deal of housing stock in the city that . Black barbers who owned a shop across the street from Herndons barbershop were killed by the angry mob. At a very young age he worked as a laborer and peddler, helping his family to eke out a living in the harsh rural area. All Rights Reserved. Herndon soon became a major philanthropist, investing his time and money into black causes, including co-founding the Niagara Movement, the forerunner of the NAACP. The publicity materials for the event claimed she was from an old French and Creole family in South Carolina, mentioning nothing about her race, and though she earned good reviews for a recital of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, no other roles came her way. color:#ddd; In 1905 he became the founder and president of what he built to be one of the United States' most well-known and successful African-American businesses, the Atlanta Family Life Insurance Company (Atlanta Life). In 1905, his property holdings were valued at nearly $325,000. Herndon was born a slave on June 26, 1858, in a small town near Atlanta, Georgia, known as Social Circle. Economic Dignity (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1990); Carole The New Georgia Encyclopedia does not hold the copyright for this media resource and can neither grant nor deny permission to republish or reproduce the image online or in print. then he bought a plantation near tavares florida. Overcoming poverty and illiteracy, he had risen in his lifetime from slavery to become the wealthy head of a leading Black business that has survived into the twenty-first century and is consistently listed among the top Black financial companies as ranked by Black Enterprise magazine. [1] font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; At his death in 1927, his real estate was assessed at nearly $325,000. In New Georgia Encyclopedia. Born into slavery, he became one of the first African American millionaires in the United States, first achieving success by owning and operating three large barber shops in the city that served prominent white men. After his first wifes death in 1910, Herndon married Jessie Gillespie of Chicago, whose influence and support also aided her husband in his business and social life. 587 University Pl NW, Atlanta, GA 30314 on the campus of Morris Brown College. Within two years her widower had remarried a Milwaukee, Wisconsin woman, Jessie Gillespie, whose family had a successful hair business in Chicago. Facts about Alonzo Herndon 1: life span Herndon was born on 26 June 1858 in Walton County, Georgia. } At the time of his death in 1927, he was also Atlanta 's wealthiest Black citizen, owning more property than any other African American. On his way to becoming Atlanta's first black millionaire, Herndon amassed a fortune in real estate. fbq('init', '213902435871547'); Alonzo Franklin Herndon was born on June 6, 1858, in Social Circle, Georgia, which is located in Walton County. .footer-wrapper h4{ An. } He was one of 25 people enslaved by his father, who never acknowledged paternity of him. Luckily, Herndon had already gone home for the day. Alexa Benson Henderson, Alonzo Herndon and Black Insurance in Atlanta, 1904-1915, Atlanta Historical Bulletin 21 (spring 1977). Merritt, The Herndons: An Atlanta Family (Athens: University of Georgia 3. The Herndon family home was eventually turned into a museum, and was placed on the National Historic Landmark Register in 2000. Public Co, 15 Mountain View Road, P.O. When Emancipation happened, 7-year-old Alonzo, his mother, her parents and brother one of 25 slaves on the Herndon estate struck out on their own with nothing but the shoes on their feet. border-left: 5px solid #f4c85e; At age seven the young Herndonalong with his mother, younger brother, and maternal grandparentsentered freedom homeless and destitute. } . BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. Opened in 1902, it was fitted with opulent furnishings, 25 luxury hair-cutting stations, and several private rooms with bathtubs and showers. Alonzo Herndon represented what some White men were angry about; the wealth and success of some African Americans. li.mega-sub-item> ul.sub-menu >li >a:hover, li.mega-sub-item> ul.sub-menu >li >a:focus, 1. Herndon soon opened his first business, a barbershop, in Jonesboro. Those barbershops had elite customers such as presidents, judges, business men, and lawyers. Why do you think the Herndon home displayed windows of Alonzo's heritage? In 1922 the company had achieved legal reserve status, a position enjoyed by only four other Black insurance companies at that time. One of the few avenues for close, respectful contact between African Americans and Whites in the south, the barber profession provided an opportunity for financial success for many Blacks in the decades after the Civil War. The family attended the First Congressional Church in Atlanta and was closely associated with Clark University and AMA schools. Atlanta Family Life Insurance Company (Atlanta Life), "Alonzo Herndon, pioneering businessman | African American Registry", Who left what behind: wills of famous blacks; while some left millions, others left nothing but legal problems |, The New Georgia Encyclopedia; Alonzo Herndon, National Park Service--Register of Historic Places; Herndon Home, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alonzo_Herndon&oldid=1114544299, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 7 October 2022, at 01:36. Steve Jobs. All requests for permission to publish or reproduce the resource must be submitted to the rights holder. (Use the internet or biographies of successful people to find someone like this.) On this episode of Georgia Stories; Alonzo Herndon, a former slave born in 1858 in Social Circle, sought to better himself and ultimately became Atlanta's fi. "The idea of a frieze was probably suggested to Adrienne by an interior decorator, but it would have fallen to Alonzo to capture the essence of his life in five images," wrote Merritt, director of the museum that the residence became many years later. currency: 'USD', Completed in 1910, the Herndon Home, was the residence of Alonzo Herndon and his family. Civil Rights Movement Mid- to Late 20th Century Topics . letter-spacing:0.7px; .page-template-magazine-template header.header-style-one #main-menu-wrapper, In 1905, Herndon purchased a failing mutual aid association . "Alonzo Herndon." h3.view{background:#0e0e0e;} Local barber ) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373 younger brother, and was placed on campus... Maternal grandparents became sharecroppers. a far-reaching impact on Herndons Life, greatly influencing his cultural and educational.... Had already gone home for the day was fitted with opulent furnishings, 25 luxury hair-cutting,. 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Of shaky competitors souths wealthiest men, and found a post with a Kentucky firm, Standard Life ``..., business men, he signed a partnership agreement with a highly regarded barber! Who never acknowledged paternity of him family attended the first Congressional Church in Atlanta, 1904-1915 Atlanta! A slave on June 26, 1858, in Jonesboro amount of schooling... Wanted to remind himself and others that even though he had become very successful he out!: University of Georgia 3 than $ 400,000 in assets in 1922. of successful people to someone... Earnings grew, he moved to Atlanta in 1883, hoping to expand his opportunities. ; as his blossomed... Born on 26 June 1858 in Walton County, Georgia. `` Atlanta Life to even success! And found a post with a Kentucky firm, Standard Life. `` he died on July,....Menu a: focus, 1 establishing the Atlanta Mutual Insurance Association ( 3 ) non-profit and our EIN 26-1625373. 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