John Merrick, Marker G-109
Posted by: 
showbizkid
N 35° 57.536 W 078° 54.635
17S E 688424 N 3981411
John Merrick was one of the founder of North Carolina Mutual Life, now the largest black owned insurance company in the United States.
Waymark Code: WM93H
Location: North Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 03/17/2006
Views: 22
John Merrick, a slave prior to the end of Civil War, was one of Durham's most successful early Black businessmen. By the late 1890's he owned three barbershops and considerable real estate in town.
Merrick and his partners recognized that most white-owned insurance companies in the Jim Crow South would not write insurance policies for blacks. So, they formed their own insurance company in 1899, which later became North Carolina Mutual Life. Between 1904-1918 the insurance company expanded its territory of coverage to South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, DC, Maryland and by the end of 1921, insurance in force reached a then staggering sum of $21 million.
Today, North Carolina Mutual Life issues insurance nationwide from its modern 12-story building in downtown Durham and is the nation’s largest African American owned insurance company. It is one of the 15 largest insurance companies in the nation.
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