Photographs from The Crisis, the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Front Inscription.The Afro-American Insurance Company, formerly the Afro-American Industrial and Benefits Association, was founded in 1901 to provide affordable health insurance and death benefits to the state’s African-Americans. Founded by the Reverend E.J. Gregg, E.W. Latson, Abraham Lincoln Lewis, A.W. Price, Dr. Arthur W. Smith, J.F. Valentine, and the Reverend J. Melton Waldron, the Afro’s first office at 14 Ocean Street was destroyed by the great Jacksonville Fire two months after it opened on May 3, 1901. It then moved to 621 Florida Avenue, the home of treasurer and future president, Abraham Lincoln
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Lewis (1865-1947). From their next home office at 105 E. Union Street, the company wrote millions of dollars of insurance policies and started district offices in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas. Lewis formed the African-American Pension Bureau and in 1935, land was purchased on Amelia Island for the black resort called American Beach. On April 22, 1956, the company dedicated its new, million-dollar building at Ocean and Union Street. After over 80 years of serving black southerners, the company closed on July 17, 1987.
The 11th Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church owns the building. It is a registered Florida Historic Landmark
Location. 30° 19.92′ N, 81° 39.285′ W. Marker is in Jacksonville, Florida, in Duval County. Marker is on E Union Street near Ocean Street, on the right when traveling west.
Regarding Florida’s First African-American Insurance Company. The Afro-American Life Insurance Company was a historic business based in Jacksonville, Florida. It was founded in 1901 by Abraham Lincoln Lewis and his business associates. Up until the creation of this insurance company, black Americans found it difficult to purchase life insurance, which was unaffordable to most blacks at the time. The insurance company also served as a financial institution as well. The company is responsible for the creation of American Beach in Nassau County, Florida.
Article was originally published by the author February 3, 2008 via examiner.com