Southern Aid and Insurance (First Black Owned Insurance Co. in U.S.) - Richmond, Virginia

Beautiful RARE certificate from the Southern Aid and Insurance Company issued in 1899. This historic document was printed by the American Banknote Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of an eagle and an underprint of a beehive. This item has the signatures of the Company’s President, Armistead Washington and Secretary, W. A. Payne and is over 109 years old.


Certificate Vignette


Early picture of offices shown for illustrative purposes

In early 1893, a handful of men in Richmond, Virginia organized the Southern Aid and Insurance Company in an effort both to furnish adequate and affordable insurance protection to African-Americans and to promote jobs for unemployed black youth. Chartered on February 25, 1893, Southern Aid and Insurance was the United States' first black owned and operated insurance company. The company founders chose Z.D. Lewis (1859-1926), pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Richmond, to head the corporation and R. Louis Brown as vice president. The other founding officers and board members were W.G. Carter, Charles Johnson, Jr., W.A. Payne, John E. Taylor, and W.R. Coots.

While the founding members had the insight to realize the possibilities of an insurance society for African-Americans, the business initially lacked the spectacular features of the highly popular fraternal orders and morally established church societies of the 1890's and early 20th century. After nearly a decade of slow growth and moderate profits, company leaders acted to reverse the stagnant business trends and modest cash influx. They replaced the company president Armistead Washington, a local fraternal order organizer and sympathizer, with prominent Hanover County banker and businessman, A.D. Price. Under Price's leadership the Southern Aid and Insurance Company became the Southern Aid Society of Virginia, Inc., a move intended to exploit the popularity of fraternal orders and beneficial societies. With a new president and a new name, the company eventually prospered and expanded with infant branches in other Virginia towns. By 1937 the company employed more than 300 black men and women in branches in Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Despite its prominence as the first African-American insurance company, few have written about the Southern Aid Society of Virginia or its members after 1940. While some studies highlight the business' place in local Richmond history or its position as an entrepreneurial endeavor during the period of the beneficial societies and fraternal orders, no comprehensive study of the Southern Aid Society of Virginia exists. Little also was written in the late 1980's when the company's building at 214 E. Clay Street (and presumably the Southern Aid Society of Virginia itself) was bought by the Atlanta Life Insurance Company.

The company wrote insurance for industrial life, accident and sick benefits insurance. They were licensed in New Jersey, Virginia and District of Columbia.

History from the Library of Virginia and OldCompany.com

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Just 28 years after the end of the Civil War, in 1893, a group of black men in Richmond, Virginia organized the Southern Aid and Insurance Company. The purpose was to furnish adequate and affordable insurance protection to African-Americans. The company was the first chartered insurance company organized by blacks in the United States and had the distinction of being the oldest black owned and operated insurance company in the nation. It was also the largest African-American insurance company in the United States at one time. The company's name was later changed to the Southern Aid Society of Virginia which was the forerunner of the Southern Aid Life Insurance Company.

The Company’s President was Armistead Washington and Secretary was W. A. Payne.

The company wrote insurance for industrial life, accident and sick benefits insurance. They were licensed in New Jersey, Virginia and District of Columbia.