Hill, Jesse Jr.

Impact on the world

Became the first non-family member to lead Atlanta Life as its third president in 1973, growing it into the largest Black-owned life insurance company in the United States while quietly using company resources to fund civil rights activities, including providing bail money for sit-in protesters and employing Rosa Parks at the company's Montgomery office during the bus boycott she sparked.

Life & background

Born in St. Louis and one of the first Black actuaries in the country, Hill moved to Atlanta in 1949 to join Atlanta Life, becoming its vice president and chief actuary before assuming the presidency in 1973 as the first leader not related to founder Alonzo Herndon. He grew the company into the nation's largest Black-owned life insurer while raising money from employees for Martin Luther King Jr.'s civil rights efforts and using company resources to post bail for sit-in demonstrators; Atlanta Life's Montgomery office famously employed Rosa Parks as a secretary during the bus boycott. Hill co-founded the Atlanta Inquirer newspaper, organized voter registration drives that added roughly 50,000 Black voters in Atlanta, helped organize Muhammad Ali's 1970 comeback fight in Atlanta after his boxing license was restored, and became the first African American president of a major city's chamber of commerce in 1977.

Sources

1. New Georgia Encyclopedia; SaportaReport