Letter of reference for the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association (North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company) from the Fidelity Bank of Durham, November 3, 1909, William Jesse Kennedy, Jr. Papers, box 4, folder 50.
The North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association was established on October 20, 1898 when its seven African American founders gathered in the office of Dr. Aaron McDuffie Moore, Durham’s first black doctor. The Mutual received its incorporation from the North Carolina General Assembly on February 28, 1899 and officially opened its doors on April 1, 1899, operating out of the office of Dr. Moore. The idea for the company more than likely came from two of its organizers, John Merrick and William Gaston Pearson, who as members of the Royal Knights of King David Fraternal Society, knew of two African America insurance companies near the organization’s headquarters in Virginia. It is unclear whose signature is at the bottom, but by the time this letter of reference was written, the Mutual was beginning to enjoy steady economic success. It points to founder John Merrick and future company president, Charles Clinton Spaulding and stresses the impact that the company had on the black community. Notice that the president of the Fidelity Bank was Benjamin N. Duke of Duke Tobacco Company. Race relations between black and white leaders in Durham were described by notable African Americans like Booker T. Washington as being among the best in the country and this letter sheds some light on that idea.
For more on Durham, N.C. and the N.C. Mutual see the following works:
Anderson, Jean Bradley. Durham County: A History of Durham County, North Carolina. Durham: Duke University Press, 1990. Boyd, William Kenneth. The Story of Durham: City of the New South. Durham: Duke University Press, 1925. Kennedy, Willim Jesse, Jr. The North Carolina Mutual Story. Durham: North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, 1970. Weare, Walter. Black Business in the New South: A Social History of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1973.
Posted by: Brandon Winford
