This week in our series highlighting innovative African-American entreprenuers as a part of Black History Month, we’ll take a look at Charles Clinton Spaulding, one of the influential founders of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company.
While the company was founded by seven black men, the tremendous success of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company is largely attributed to the hard work of Spaulding. Spaulding was born in 1874 and started work as as a dishwasher and later, general manager of a grocery company. John Merrick, a barber, and Aaron Moore, a practicing physician, thought of an idea of an insurance company in 1898. They approached Spaulding to be a part-time agent at what was first known as the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association. Spaulding’s hard work and business aptitude helped him became the General Manager in less than a year as he quickly laid the foundation for a wildly successful firm.
The success of the company, as well as the service of Spaulding on multiple boards, helped the company grow and achieve national prominence. Spaulding served as a leader at both the National Negro Insurance Association and the National Negro Bankers Association by 1920, and was elected to membership in the all-white New York Chamber of Commerce in 1942. He was named president in 1923, a post he held until his death in 1952.
Under its first motto ”merciful to all”, the company became known as an institution that promotes strong black families and communities through jobs, investments, loans, contributions and support of social programs. In 1934, the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company was the nation’s largest black-owned business, and remains one of the nation’s oldest black-owned businesses to this day. Spaulding died in 1952, still serving as President, and having grown the company to $40 million in assetts.
For a look at the man himself, watch this video, a historic 1940′s film about Spaulding, presented by the present-day North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company.
