<P> NC Mutual ( originally the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association and later North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company ) is an American life insurance company located in downtown Durham , North Carolina and one of the most influential African - American businesses in United States history . Founded in 1898 by local black social leaders , its business increased from less than a thousand dollars in income in 1899 to a quarter of a million dollars in 1910 . The company specialized in `` industrial insurance , '' which was basically burial insurance . The company hired salesmen whose main job was to collect small payments ( of about 10 cents ) to cover the insured person for the next week . If the person died while insured , the company immediately paid benefits of about 100 dollars . This covered the cost of a suitable funeral , which was a high prestige item in the black community . It began operations in the new tobacco manufacturing city of Durham , North Carolina , and moved north into Virginia and Maryland , then to major northern black urban centers , and then to the rest of the urban South . </P>
<P> NC Mutual ( originally the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association and later North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company ) is an American life insurance company located in downtown Durham , North Carolina and one of the most influential African - American businesses in United States history . Founded in 1898 by local black social leaders , its business increased from less than a thousand dollars in income in 1899 to a quarter of a million dollars in 1910 . The company specialized in `` industrial insurance , '' which was basically burial insurance . The company hired salesmen whose main job was to collect small payments ( of about 10 cents ) to cover the insured person for the next week . If the person died while insured , the company immediately paid benefits of about 100 dollars . This covered the cost of a suitable funeral , which was a high prestige item in the black community . It began operations in the new tobacco manufacturing city of Durham , North Carolina , and moved north into Virginia and Maryland , then to major northern black urban centers , and then to the rest of the urban South . </P>
who founded the north carolina mutual and provident insurance company in 1898
who founded the north carolina mutual and provident insurance company in 1898
black social leaders
black social leaders