Discuss the traits and describe how each one contributed to Herndons amazing success. Encyclopedia.com. Alonzo Herndon embodied the American Dream while leading the way for financial freedom for African Americans.With lively illustrations, The Story of Alonzo Herndon introduces Alonzo Herndon to young readers and inspires them to achieve greatness. .mega >ul.sub-menu>li.mega-sub-item>a, .mega .thunk-widget-menu .widget h2.widgettitle, .mega .thunk-widget-menu .widget .recent-post h4.widgettitle,.navigation .mega >ul.sub-menu>li.mega-sub-item>a{ Atlanta's Alonzo Herndon, born into slavery, became one of the first African-American millionaires in the U.S., founding Atlanta Life Insurance Company, among margin: ;
Learn more about the foundation. font-size:38px; color:#494bbc!important; About his early life Alonzo writes, "My mother was emancipated when I was seven years old and my brother Tom five years old. Incorporateci: 1866 as National Travelers Insurance It was an architectural wonder when it was built in 1910 by an all-black team of laborers and tradesmen. By 1904, Herndon owned three barber shops in Atlanta, advertising one of them as the largest and best barbershop in the region. Herndons mother, Sophenie, was a black slave; his father, Frank Herndon, was a white slave owner. Du Bois Niagara Movement. Charles Clinton Spaulding was the United States preeminent black businessman of the early t, Public Company The New Georgia Encyclopedia is supported by funding from A More Perfect Union, a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
background:#111; line-height:48px; Herndon brought in experienced, professional management with a sound business plan that included an expanded, knowledgeable sales force and a new network of branch offices. "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. His mother was Sophenie, an enslaved woman. 2.
.page blockquote{ Atlanta, GA 30318 Henderson, Alexa. .content .standard-layout .post.format-standard .post-img{ When President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Herndon and his family had their freedom, but were thrust into the position of supporting themselves with virtually no resources. In 1905 he used his proceeds to purchase a failing insurance business in the city, naming it the Atlanta Mutual Insurance Association. Herndon died in 1927, at 69. One of the souths wealthiest men, he died on July 21, 1927. .magazine-box header.header-style-one #main-menu-wrapper, "Herndon was eager to capitalize on it.". 20042023 Georgia Humanities, University of Georgia Press. Herndon said he did this to support and empower Black businesses and their workers. his personal fortune grew, Herndon entered the field of insurance. .flex-slider li .caption-content a{color:#fff;} 20072023 Blackpast.org. } Warren, New Jersey 07061 He was also involved in the Southview Cemetery Association, Atlanta Loan and Trust, and the Atlanta State Savings Bank, and was a key investor in Gate City Drug Company, the first black-owned drugstore on Auburn Avenue. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19192-1550 .archive-title, .page-title, li.sl-related-thumbnail h3, .multipage-links span{ he had great clientelle with the money he was getting he was able to invest in real estate.he bought more than 100 rental houses and commercial property in auburn avenue in atlanta. color:#606060; background:#f4c85e; Economic Dignity (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1990); Carole border: 1px solid #f4c85e; They had one son together, Norris B. Herndon. McNeil had studied dramatic arts in Boston and New York, receiving the Belasco Gold Medal for excellence in expression in 1908. border: 1px solid #f4c85e; On that day in 1878, he walked all the way to Jonesboro, Georgia, but his first stop was a town that had telegraph wires running overhead, something he had never before seen and which unsettled him. At one point, Herndon was the wealthiest African-American in Atlanta. } You can visit it in Vine City at 587 University Place NW. Henry McNeal Turner was for many years the leading advocate of black migration to Africa a, Public Company His holdings eventually encompassed extensive real estate, and one of the nations largest black-owned businesses and most successful insurance companies, Atlanta Life. [1], Through his enterprises, Herndon became Atlanta's first black millionaire. American executive Alonzo Franklin Herndon (1858-1927) founded the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, one of the leading insurers in the American South. Alonzo, Adrienne, and Norris Herndon, 1907. font-size:38px;
Telephone: (908) 903-2000 Marker Text : Alonzo Herndon was born into slavery in Walton County, Georgia, in 1858. }. }body,p{ 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. 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. Why do you think the Herndon home displayed windows of Alonzo's heritage? William Dougherty Hutchins had been a free black before the war, and his shop was a busy one. The field hockey venue used during 1996 Summer Olympics located at Morris Brown College was named Herndon Stadium. border-left: 3px solid #f4c85e; He eventually settled in Senoia, Georgia to work as a farmhand; here he started to learn the barbering trade, considered a good one at the time. } Alonzo Franklin Herndon (June 26, 1858 Walton County, Georgia July 21, 1927) was an African-American entrepreneur and businessman in Atlanta, Georgia. The Herndon Home is a historic house museum and National Historic Landmark at 587 University Place NW, in Atlanta, Georgia.An elegant Classical Revival mansion with Beaux Arts influences, it was the home of Alonzo Franklin Herndon (1858-1927), a rags-to-riches success story who was born into slavery, but went on to become Atlanta's first black millionaire as founder and head of the Atlanta . His barbering business thrived, and he expanded it over the years. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. background:rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.95); .home .navigation .menu > li > a:hover, .home .navigation ul li a:hover, .home header #main-menu-wrapper .menu-item-has-children > a:hover:after, n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
His full name is Alonzo Franklin Herndon. 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. 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. Only a year later, he was invited to move his premises to one of the citys fanciest hotels, Markham House. For dues of 25 cents weekly, a payee's beneficiary would receive a sum up to $50 upon death, which paid for funeral expenses. An extended European honeymoon was partly spent gathering furnishings to refit his Crystal Palace. 1. He was a founding member of Booker T. Washington's National Negro Business League in 1900. {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? He decided to leave his Social Circle in 1878. .page-template-magazine-template header.header-style-one #main-menu-wrapper, James Oglethorpe Colonial Figures. Herndon was featured in The Crisis Magazine's Men of the Month in March 1921. Featured Content. } Tragically, Adrienne died the same year the house was completed after a bout with Addison's disease, a glandular condition.
} His son, Norris B. Herndon, became notable in his own right, expanding the insurance company into an empire.[6]. She was sent adrift in the world with her two children and a corded bed and [a] few quilts. Alonzo Herndon.
color:#fff;} After being emancipated, his family found a job in sharecropper in Social Circle, Georgia. }h2,.two-grid-layout .post-content h2,.standard-layout .post-title h2{ 23 Feb. 2023 . U.S.A. 31. letter-spacing:0.7px; } header,.page header{ Though Herndons successful businesses and investments made him a wealthy man, they did not protect him from the negative effects of racism. 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. 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 staff of the Atlanta Life Insurance Company Branch Office, ca. Within two years her widower had remarried a Milwaukee, Wisconsin woman, Jessie Gillespie, whose family had a successful hair business in Chicago. Later, in 1905, he joined WE.B. color:#f4c85e; An. In 1905, he purchased a small mutual aid association that eventually became the Atlanta Life Insurance Company. One of Herndons most lasting contributions includes his role in establishing the United Negro College Fund. Make a list of the character traits possessed by Alonzo Herndon according to what was shown in the video. AtlantaFi, Alonzo Herndon: 8 Things To Know About The Atlanta Business Pioneer. } He soon founded the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, where he served as president. Eventually he established Atlanta Life, an insurance company. color:#494bbc; New Georgia Encyclopedia, last modified Jul 14, 2020. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/business-economy/alonzo-herndon-1858-1927/, Henderson, A. At that time, he was 7 years old. In New Georgia Encyclopedia. 3. .footer-wrapper li, 1925. 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. In 1893 he married Adrienne Elizabeth McNeil, a professor at Atlanta University (later Clark Atlanta University). Herndon was born into slavery as Alonzo Franklin Herndon on June 26, 1858. color:#f4c85e; letter-spacing:0.4px; 64. Telephone: (215) 761-1000
Herdon was a former slave raised in a sharecropping family after the Civil War. } She was the decorator. His father was his mother's White owner, so he was kept on the man's farm. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. Herndon supplemented the family income by working as day laborer and peddler of peanuts, homemade molasses, and axle grease. Herndons business thrived. By the time he was 20, Herndon had managed to save the sum of $11, and ran away from Social Circle with it. His mother took him, his five-year-old brother, and a few quilts with her, and found work nearby as a day laborer. .simplesocialbuttons.simplesocialbuttons_inline.simplesocial-simple-round button{
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. Admired and respected by many, he was noted for his involvement in and support of local institutions and charities devoted to advancing African American business and community life. } Alonzo was born on June 26, 1858 in Georgia. Herndon employed an acquisition strategy where he bought out failing insurance businesses and merged them with his company. t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
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background:#f4c85e; [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. border-left: 5px solid #f4c85e; His full name is Alonzo Franklin Herndon. The house's design was attributed to her in a published eulogy by AU president Ware who said, ". Famous for founding and heading the successful Atlanta Family Life Insurance Company, he is also remembered as the . .navigation .menu > li > a:hover,.navigation ul li a:hover,header #main-menu-wrapper .menu-item-has-children > a:hover:after,.navigation ul ul.sub-menu a:hover,.smaller .navigation ul li a:hover, .home .smaller .navigation .menu > li > a:hover,.navigation ul .current-menu-item > a, Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates.
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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. Murals in its living room depicted scenes from Herndon's life, including tilling the red-clay fields of Social Circle. Facts about Alonzo Herndon 2: fame As I have stated before, he was famous after establishing the Atlanta Life Insurance. His father was a white plantation farmer and owner of Herndons mother, Sophenie. BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. .home header.smaller, header.smaller{
Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. Why do you think the Herndon home displayed windows of Alonzo's heritage? Alexa Benson Herndon, Atlanta Life Insurance Company: Guardian of Black Worked Fields as a Child Alonzo Franklin Herndon was an African American entrepreneur who founded and was the first president of Atlanta Life Insurance Company. font-size:14px; Alexa Benson Henderson, Atlanta Life Insurance Company: Guardian of Black Economic Dignity (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1990). Alonzo Herndon Stadium, home to Atlanta Beat, Georgia Mustangs - Football Ground Map Football Ground Map Home Buy Rob a Pint CHEERS! Five years later he was one of the original members of the W.E.B. Alonzo Herndon rose to prime prominence as a Entrepreneur. With his savings replenished, he moved to Atlanta in 1883, hoping to expand his opportunities. B. Much of the Herndon mansions design has been attributed to the taste and aspirations of the Adrienne Herndons wife Adrienne, who envisioned the rooftop terrace as a performance venue. It was an architectural wonder when it was built in 1910 by an all-black team of laborers and tradesmen. ALONZO HERNDON WAS CONSIDERED THE FIRST BLACK ENTREPRENEUR OF ATLANTA IN THE 1800s Hide chat MLK: The Other America The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change Heartland. Read more Reading age 8 - 10 years Print length 28 pages Language English Grade level 3 - 4 Dimensions He opened his own barbershop in Atlanta in 1886. Alonzo Herndon began construction on the house in 1905 and it was substantially complete when Adrienne Herndon died after a brief illness in 1910. 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. As his earnings grew, Herndon began to invest in real estate, purchasing more than 100 rental houses, commercial property along Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, and a plantation near Tavares, Florida. 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. By now Herndon was worth a small fortune, having made shrewd investments in Atlanta real estate, including a commercial strip on Auburn Avenue, business hub of the city's African American community. 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. Herndons first wife passed in 1910, and he married Jessie Herndon in 1910. 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 . Herndon also invested in real estate, and then entered the insurance business. 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. United States, From Rags to Riches: The Story of Alonzo Herndon, Copyright 2023, Georgia Public Broadcasting. Birthdate: November 08, 1866. [citation needed]. 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. 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Named Herndon Stadium, his five-year-old brother, and axle grease when it was an wonder..., homemade molasses, and then entered the field of Insurance the american South Company... He purchased a small Mutual aid Association that eventually became the Atlanta Life, tilling...