John Merrick - Born a Slave; Freed and Stride!
John Merrick
September 7,1859 – August 6, 1919
As we learn more about the lives of African Americans whose work changed the United States' social landscape, one such pioneer was North Carolina native John Merrick, founder of one of America's largest and most successful black businesses, the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company.
He was born in 1859 into slavery just before the civil war and he remained in the south after the Emancipation. John Merrick found freedom following the Emancipation Proclamation. The construction of Shaw University, John was the brick mason. He observed and discovered the barber trade.
He acquired a handful of barber shops in Durham, North Carolina. He did well for himself and eventually bought property throughout an all-black section of his community, specializing in rental properties. Merrick was prosperous on his own but teamed up with two other businessmen to purchase a fraternal lodge that provided insurance policies to its members. It became the main supplier of insurance for the Black community. Merrick as a social pioneer whose contributions worked both to shift white racist attitudes toward African Americans as well as to protect the African American community from stifling economic hardship and inequality. Over the 25 years that followed, the business grew across the Southeast, but Merrick is perhaps best known for being one of the founders of the North Carolina Mutual Provident Life Insurance Company — which became the biggest Black-owned insurance company in the country. This is all to say that Merrick made a lasting mark on the insurance industry and remains a treasured symbol of Black entrepreneurship.
Source: Documenting the American South/ Highlights
Source: Documenting the American South/ Highlights
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