Charles Clinton Spaulding, Aaron McDuffie Moore, John Merrick

Charles Clinton Spaulding, Aaron McDuffie Moore, John Merrick

The three founded the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company in 1898 – the now-oldest and largest African-American life insurance company in the United States. At the time, all three men were members of the Durham community: Spaulding, the general manager of a grocery company; Moore, a practicing physician; and Merrick, an entrepreneur with barbershops across Durham. At the time, Durham was referred to as “Black Wall Street”, notably for the economic successes blacks were seeing through business. The company still stands today – with assets estimated at $162 million.