Herndon, Alonzo
1858-1927 · Contribution: 1905
Founded the Atlanta Life Insurance Company; became Atlanta's first African American millionaire

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Quick facts
- Category
- Business & Misc.
Impact on the world
Herndon built, from bondage, one of the enduring pillars of Black economic life in the South, an insurance company that protected and grew Black wealth when white institutions would not.
Sources
- New Georgia Encyclopedia
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