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Private company

Atlanta Life

American company

The Atlanta Life Financial Group was founded by Alonzo Herndon in Atlanta, Georgia. Born into slavery, he started in Atlanta as a young barber, eventually owning three shops. He became Atlanta's richest African American and a highly successful businessman.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

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Atlanta Life Insurance Company Building, Atlanta, GA (33598220538)
Photo: Warren LeMay from Cincinnati, OH, United States, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons4

The Atlanta Life Financial Group was founded by Alonzo Herndon in Atlanta, Georgia. Born into slavery, he started in Atlanta as a young barber, eventually owning three shops. He became Atlanta's richest African American and a highly successful businessman. For many years, the life insurance company was one of the most prominent African-American businesses in the United States. The demolished public housing project Herndon Homes was named for Herndon.2

The story

Founded by Alonzo Herndon.1

In 1905, a slave-born barber Alonzo Franklin Herndon founded Atlanta Life Insurance Company. Herndon bought a small self-help association known as the Atlanta Benevolent and Protective Association for $140, which Reverend Peter Bryant of Wheat Street Baptist Church had established the year before. Herndon then consolidated his investments into the Atlanta Mutual Insurance Association, adding two other firms, the Royal Mutual Insurance Company, and the National Laborer's Protective Union.

In 2008, William A. Clement, Jr. was appointed as President & CEO of the Atlanta Life Financial Group, Inc., and served for three years in that capacity. He was also an outside director of ALFG in 1992, and in 2001.

In 2014, Atlanta Life Financial Group's Board of Directors appointed Roosevelt Giles as Chairman and William J. Stanley III, as Vice Chairman.

From Wikipedia’s article on Atlanta Life, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Leadership

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Sources

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