.flex-slider .read-more.read-more-slider a,.flex-slider.button-two .read-more.read-more-slider a,.flex-slider.button-three .read-more.read-more-slider a{color:#fff;border-color:#fff;background:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);} Henderson, Alexa. He gave generous support and resources to such local institutions and causes as the YMCA; Atlanta University; the Leonard Street, Carrie Steele, and Diana Pace orphanages; the Herndon Day Nursery; and the First Congregational Church. . Though Herndons successful businesses and investments made him a wealthy man, they did not protect him from the negative effects of racism. Herndons business thrived. A 1916 reorganization made Herndon's company a shareholder-owned one, but he held the majority of stock. 1. Du Bois. Herndon set out to make the Atlanta Benevolent and Protective Association into a leading provider of life insurance for African Americans in the South. Herndon's significant investments in property allowed him to improve a great deal of housing stock in the city that . #main-menu-wrapper nav .mega .thunk-widget-menu .menu a:hover { 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. li.social-icon ul li a,ul.single-social-icon li a i{ Before long, he took up barbering and mens grooming, which afforded freed blacks a level of eliteness in a white world. Alonzo is originated from United States. Subscribe to ournews alerts here, follow uson Twitterand like us onFacebook. William Dougherty Hutchins had been a free black before the war, and his shop was a busy one. His insurance business reported more than $400,000 in assets in 1922. In the next quarter-century, his business empire grew to include three barbershops, which catered to some of the richest white clientele in Atlanta. Alonzo Franklin Herndon was an African American entrepreneur who founded and was the first president of Atlanta Life Insurance Company. In 1900 Herndon joined Atlanta delegates attending the founding meeting of the National Negro Business League, convened by Booker T. Washington in Boston. All Rights Reserved. Alonzo's marriage to Adrienne had a far-reaching impact on his life, greatly influencing his cultural and educational growth. } 2. With Herndon playing a pivotal role as president and chief stockholder, the small association expanded its assets from $5,000 in 1905 to more than $400,000 by 1922. Include how this persons life has affected your life. 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. Herndon died in Atlanta on July 21, 1927 at the age of 69. Herndon died in 1927, at 69. . Carole Merritt, The Herndons: An Atlanta Family (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2002). .home header.smaller, header.smaller{ . He went to Jonesboro, Clayton County on foot. In 1910, Herndons wife died unexpectedly. 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. Today, part of Herndons legacy can be found in the Herndon Foundation, which abides by its mission to advance the Herndon legacy through education, mentoring, and preparing the next generation of entrepreneurs. @media screen and (max-width: 1024px){ The other was John Merricks North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company. When he was strong enough, at age 13, his former masterand biological fatheroffered him a job on the plantation as a farmhand, a position he held for the next seven years. Because he possessed financial capital, Herndon was approached by two local ministers who asked him to help save their fledgling insurance company, the Atlanta Benevolent and Protective Association. Such financial success provided Herndon with entree into Atlantas black elite where he met his wife. "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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); List choice Born into slavery in 1858, in Walton County, Georgia; Alonzo was the son of Sophenie, an enslaved woman, and a white father, likely her enslaver, Frank Herndon, who was from a wealthy slaveholding family. Five years later he was one of the original members of the W.E.B. Jan. 03 1992. The article emphasizes his competence and success as a businessman. Fittingly, Herndon had asked that his pallbearers be drawn from among his barber staff. } 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. Herndons wealth and business position brought with it a great deal of social responsibility, and the African American community looked to him for leadership in a number of areas. Norris B. Herndon, his son also contributed a lot to the company since he made it into a multimillion dollar company. his personal fortune grew, Herndon entered the field of insurance. } His full name is Alonzo Franklin Herndon. font-size:38px; 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). He decided to open his barbershop here. Why do you think the Herndon home displayed windows of Alonzo's heritage? .home .header .logo h1 a,.home .header .logo p,.header .logo a,.header .logo p,header.smaller .header .logo h1 a{ He was succeeded as head of his financial empire by his second wife, Jessie Gillespie, then later by his son Norris. His home was included in National Historic Landmark in United States in 2000. B. letter-spacing:0.4px; Alonzo Herndon. 31. In 1913, he signed a partnership agreement with a Kentucky firm, Standard Life. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. He developed a great reputation as a barber and his business thrived. Alonzo wanted to remind himself and others that even though he had become very successful he started out as a slave. /*margin-digbar*/ Encyclopedia of World Biography. Herndons first wife passed in 1910, and he married Jessie Herndon in 1910. He was even a delegate to the first conference of the National Negro Business League organized by Washington in 1890, and was involved in Du Bois's 1905 Niagara Movement, a conference held in Fort Erie, Ontario that eventually led to the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. Born into slavery, he belonged to the first generation of successful African American entrepreneurs of the early twentieth century. Completed in 1910, the Herndon Home, was the residence of Alonzo Herndon and his family. New Georgia Encyclopedia, 20 September 2004, https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/business-economy/alonzo-herndon-1858-1927/. } ::-moz-selection{ @media screen and (max-width: 550px){body,p{ .header-wrap-top .top-menu .top li a:hover{ Herndon studied barbering, and owned and managed a string of barbershops in downtown Atlanta after the Civil War, one of which was considered to be the most elegant in the . At that time, he was 7 years old. } .woocommerce-product-gallery{ opacity: 1 !important; } li.mega-sub-item> ul.sub-menu >li >a:hover, li.mega-sub-item> ul.sub-menu >li >a:focus, Atlanta Haps Newsletter 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. Facts about Elias Howe make us talk about the American inventor. 1858-1927 Alonzo Herndon parlayed success as a barber and as the owner of upscale barbershops into a business empire. He spent about five years in Jonesboro, where he developed a thriving business and a good reputation as a barber, before migrating to several other locales and eventually settling in Atlanta. An extended European honeymoon was partly spent gathering furnishings to refit his Crystal Palace. All requests for permission to publish or reproduce the resource must be submitted to the rights holder. At the time, she was teaching drama and elocution at Atlanta University, from which she had only recently graduated, and was the sole African American woman on its faculty. } 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. Despite several crises in the industry and lean times generally, Atlanta Life under Herndons leadership survived and progressed into the next decades as a secure and prosperous business. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. His mother was Sophenie, an enslaved woman. . background:rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.95); )- (Los Bros Hernandez, a collective pseudonym), Herndon, Nancy 1934- (Elizabeth Chadwick, Nancy Fairbanks), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/herndon-alonzo-franklin, The Mixed Legacy of the Reconstruction Era. In 1910 Alonzo and Jessie Herndon built the Herndon Home which at the time was one of the largest mansions in Atlanta. line-height:48px; Herdon was a former slave raised in a sharecropping family after the Civil War. In 1882, he moved to Atlanta, and found a post with a highly regarded local barber. Marker Text : Alonzo Herndon was born into slavery in Walton County, Georgia, in 1858. . .simplesocialbuttons.simplesocialbuttons_inline.simplesocial-simple-round button{ 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). At the time of his death in 1927, he was also Atlanta 's wealthiest Black citizen, owning more property than any other African American. Whenever possible, he reinsured the policyholders and merged the faltering business into Atlanta Life in an effort to conserve confidence in Black businesses and save jobs for Black men and women. The couple had a son, Norris, who grew Atlanta Life to even greater heights after Herndons death. 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. currency: 'USD', Alonzo Herndon was born in Georgia. } border-left: 5px solid #f4c85e; Called "The Crystal Palace," it was a lavishly appointed barbershop, with chandeliers and marble floors, and served Atlanta's judges, politicians, and business elite. Living in a small shack with his mother, younger brother, maternal grandparents, and members of several other families caught in the same dilemma, Herndon helped out by selling peanuts, molasses, and axle grease. /*inline margin*/ Later, Herndon opened up his first barbershop in Jonesboro, Georgia. Arriving in early 1883, he secured employment as a barber in a shop on Marietta Street owned by William Dougherty Hutchins, an African American. Norris eventually settled down and earned an M.B.A. from Harvard in 1921, where he was one of two blacks in his class. fbq('track', 'ViewContent', { .read-more.read-more-slider a:hover{ .flex-slider.button-three .read-more.read-more-slider a:hover{ Herndon was also active in the community in other areas. .post_pagi a i:hover{ In New Georgia Encyclopedia. } [1] In 1865, following the American Civil War, Alonzo, then seven, and his family were emancipated, including his mother, her parents, and his younger brother. 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