The Southern Aid and Insurance Company is an

insurance company Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

that was founded in 1893, 28 years after the end of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, by a group of black men (American men of African ancestry) in

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

. The purpose was to furnish adequate and affordable insurance protection to

African-Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

. The company was the first chartered

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 that sold

Life insurance Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typical ...

. The Company's first President was Z. D. Lewis (1859–1926). The company wrote insurance for industrial life, accident and sick benefits insurance. They were licensed in New Jersey, Virginia and District of Columbia, and had offices in Alexandria, Bristol, Charlottesville, Danville, Farmville, Fredericksburg, Lynchburg, Newport News, Norfolk, Petersburg, Portsmouth, Richmond, Roanoke, Saluda, Suffolk, Winchester, Virginia; and Washington, D.C. The insurance company purchased

John Mitchell, Jr. John Mitchell Jr. (July 11, 1863 – December 3, 1929) was an American businessman, newspaper editor, African American civil rights activist, and politician in Richmond, Virginia, particularly in Richmond's Jackson Ward, which became known a ...

Mechanics Savings Bank Founded in 1902 by John Mitchell, Jr., Mechanics Savings Bank was a bank near the Jackson Ward neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia. Mitchell, who was an African American, also owned and edited the ''Richmond Planet''. The bank was originally loca ...

building on Clay Street in 1930. The bank had closed in 1922. In the late 1980s the building, at 212 E. Clay Street, and presumably the company itself, was bought by the Atlanta Life Insurance Company.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Southern Aid And Insurance Company Financial services companies established in 1893 Insurance companies of the United States