Alonzo Herndon

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Alonzo “Lon” Franklin Herndon was an African-American entrepreneur in Atlanta, Georgia. He was born into slavery on June 26, 1858, in Walton County. His mother was Sophenie and his father was a white man who did not acknowledge him. After the Civil War, he and his family were freed in 1865 and started life in extreme poverty. He worked as a laborer and peddler to help his family.

From a young age, Lon saved money and learned barbering. He left Social Circle in 1878 with about eleven dollars and little schooling. He moved to Senoia to work as a farmhand and began learning the barber trade. He opened his first barbershop in Jonesboro, Georgia, and later owned three shops in Atlanta, including a large one at 66 Peachtree Street with luxurious furnishings. His shops attracted elite customers, including presidents, judges, and lawyers. A large shop serving white customers was damaged during the 1906 Atlanta race riot.

Herndon also invested in real estate and then moved into the insurance business. In 1905 he bought a failing mutual aid association and formed the Atlanta Mutual Insurance Association. By 1916 it became a stock company with $25,000 in capital, most of which he owned. In 1922 the company was reorganized as the Atlanta Life Insurance Company and grew to serve Black communities in several states. Through these efforts, Herndon became Atlanta’s first Black millionaire.

In his personal life, Herndon married Adrienne Elizabeth McNeil in 1893; she helped him gain education and refinement. They had a son, Norris B. Herndon. Adrienne died in 1910, and Alonzo later married Jessie Gillespie of Chicago. The family attended the First Congregational Church in Atlanta. Alonzo Herndon died on July 21, 1927, in Atlanta at the age of 69. His son Norris later helped expand the family business, and Herndon was honored by Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.