young insurance salesman originally from northern California. Houston was made superintendent of agents, who supervised three young men who were recently hired as agents. This included George A. Beavers Jr., a Georgia-born businessman. Under Nickerson's leadership, the branch prospered. Despite nearly 40,000 African Americans in California at the time, insurance companies regarded them as either uninsurable or extremely high risk. As a result, the few policies that were written for blacks were done so at exorbitant rates. Nickerson shared his outrage over this blatantly racist policy with Houston and Beavers. In November 1924, when American Mutual chose not to renew its contract with Nickerson, he decided to form his own company. However, the road to starting his own insurance company would not be easy. To obtain a charter from the state of California, Nickerson needed to secure a $15,000 guarantee fund and obtain applicants for five hundred pre-paid life insurance policies that he could not promise to issue. He consulted an attorney, who said he had the solution to his problem, but for a $1,500 fee. Paying the fee was not a viable option, so Nickerson instead invested $27 for a set of law books. For several days, Nickerson studied the intricacies of insurance regulations to uncover a law that was sufficiently flexible to accommodate his situation. The resourceful Nickerson found a loophole in the law that would solve his problem. He proposed to the Department of Insurance, that he would issue "certificates of contribution" to his subscribers instead of stock certificates, which were not allowed for a mutual company. This had never been done before. While there was no law specifically authorizing it, there was also no law forbidding it. With the assistance of an actuary named John H. Upton, the California Department of Insurance approved the plan. However, several additional hurdles had to be overcome including a move by the California Legislature to increase the financial requirements for a mutual life insurance company. Nickerson met every challenge and on February 24, 1925, the articles of incorporation were filed for the Golden State Guarantee Fund Insurance Company. Starting in a small one-room office at 1435 Central Avenue, the initial officers of Golden State were Nickerson (president), Beavers (vice president) and Houston (secretary/treasurer). Under Nickerson's leadership, the firm expanded throughout California, Texas and Illinois. By the time of his death in 1945, the company, now known as Golden State Mutual