African‐American insurance enterprises: An early vehicle for economic and social development

Abstract

The study analyzes different early African‐American life insurance enterprises and illustrates how these organizations significantly influenced both cultural and economic development in African‐American communities. Because African Americans purchased at least one billion‐dollars worth of insurance by the end of the 1930s and because African‐American insurance companies carried at least $340,000,000 of this insurance, African Americans also played a significant role in developing the United States’ financial infrastructure during the first half of the twentieth century. This paper explores the cultural and economic issues used by this industry to overcome the environment constraints that hindered many other African‐American industries.

Citation

Plater, M.A. (1997), "African‐American insurance enterprises: An early vehicle for economic and social development", Journal of Management History (Archive), Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 42-58. https://doi.org/10.1108/13552529710168861