[African-Americana] Life Insurance Policy for a West Palm Beach Resident, Issued by One of the Largest Black-Owned Businesses in the State

The Afro-American Life Insurance Company of Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida, June 19, 1939. Single sheet, 15 x 10 3/4 in. (381 x 273 mm). Printed life insurance policy. Ink stamps on recto and verso. Creasing from old folds, small losses and separations along same.

Abraham Lincoln Lewis (1865-1947), a pioneering African-American businessman, philanthropist, and Florida's first Black millionaire, co-founded along with six associates the Afro-American Industrial and Benefit Association in Jacksonville in 1901, which later became the Afro-American Life Insurance Company, the first life insurance company in Florida. Lewis was elected president of the company in 1919, and under his direction in 1935, he purchased American Beach, a popular beach destination for Black tourists in Nassau County.

This life insurance policy (“Two Hundred and Fifty Dollar Special Complete Protection Whole Life Policy”) including sick, accident and death benefits, was issued on June 19, 1939, to 28-year-old George Scott. The first beneficiary is his wife Helen (Cassel) Scott, however, the two apparently divorced, as she is supplanted by Cassie Scott, in 1955, who in turn is replaced by a cousin, Josephine Fearley, one year later.

This lot is located in Philadelphia.

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How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X

[African-Americana] Life Insurance Policy for a West Palm Beach Resident, Issued by One of the Largest Black-Owned Businesses in the State

How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X

[African-Americana] Life Insurance Policy for a West Palm Beach Resident, Issued by One of the Largest Black-Owned Businesses in the State

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