Alonzo Herndon was born into slavery, made a fortune running barbershops and investing in real estate, and founded Atlanta Life Insurance in 1905.
Alonzo’s second wife, Jessie, served as vice president of Atlanta Life from 1927 to 1947.
Norris Herndon, only child of Alonzo and first wife, Adrienne, took over the company after his father’s death in 1927. A Harvard graduate, Norris was influential in philanthropic and civic circles.
Atlanta Life’s grand headquarters on Auburn Avenue still stands, but is currently on a historic preservation “endangered” list.
In 1980, the company moved a few blocks up Auburn Avenue into its current headquarters. The building houses a notable art collection.
Efforts to help customers during the Great Depression helped Atlanta Life build loyalty and sustain the economic downturn.
By the 1930s, Atlanta Life was a multi-state powerhouse. Today the company operates in seventeen states.
The Atlanta Life Insurance Collection at the Auburn Avenue Research Library contains documents relating to many influential Atlanta organizations, such as the Hungry Club, a biracial community forum.
Atlanta Life actively supported the civil rights movement, allowing workers to participate in boycotts and sit-ins on company time, and paying bail for countless protesters.
Among the collection’s holding are a trove of documents relating to voting rights in Atlanta. Grace Hamilton’s father, George Towns Hamilton, was an Atlanta University professor and colleague of Adrie
A wealth of documents on Atlanta’s civil rights history are found in the Atlanta Life files.
This letter asked Atlanta Life Insurance managers to support the Montgomery Improvement Association bus boycott led by a young Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
