John Merrick Helps Establish Early Black Insurance Enterprise in Durham

John Merrick, a formerly enslaved barber who became one of Durham's wealthiest Black citizens, joined Dr. Aaron McDuffie Moore in 1898 to form mutual aid societies that became the foundation for the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, incorporated in 1899. 'North Carolina Mutual' became the largest Black-owned business in America, anchoring the 'Black Wall Street of Durham.'