Encyclopedia article about the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, which has been in existence since 1905 and has its headquarters on Atlanta's historic Sweet Auburn Avenue. Founded by Alonzo Herndon, a prosperous black barber and entrepreneur who rose from enslavement to become, by 1927, the wealthiest African American in Atlanta, Atlanta Life is the leading African American stock-owned insurance company in the nation. As one of the strongest black financial institutions to emerge in the early twentieth century, Atlanta Life is a premier example of the quest of African Americans to gain an economic foothold.

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Cite as: "Atlanta Life Insurance Company," New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved [date]: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org.

Forms part of the New Georgia Encyclopedia.