Page 25 - Juneteenth Booklet 2022 Finale

A.L. Lewis

Abraham Lincoln Lewis was born in
Madison on March 29, 1865. Alt-
hough he grew to be a very successful
man, Lewis had a difficult start. Lewis
was the son of Robert Lewis, a South
Carolina blacksmith who was a slave
on one of the many plantations in
Madison. Both of Lewis' parents
struggled throughout their lives and
did not know how to read or write,
which was a result of a law that made
it a crime to teach slaves to read.
However, when the slaves were freed,
things began to change.

The couple named their son Abraham Lincoln in gratitude for the president
who set them free; Lincoln never used this name and instead chose to be
called A.L. Lewis. Rising above from the hardships, Lewis dedicated his life
to overcome and compensate for the segregation imposed on blacks.

In 1901, Lewis, along with Reverend E.J. Gregg, E.W. Latson, A.W. Price, Dr.
Arthur W. Smith, J.F. Valentine and Reverend J. Melton Waldron, founded
Florida's first insurance company, the African American Industrial Benefit
Association, later renamed Afro-American Life Insurance Company.

Afro-American Life Insurance Company was founded to provide affordable
health insurance and death benefits to Florida's black residents. In May of
1901, the great Jacksonville Fire destroyed the first office of the insurance
company just two months after it opened. As a result, it moved to the home
of Lewis, who served as the treasurer of the company during that time.
Lewis became president in 1919 and spread the company throughout Geor-
gia, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas.

In the 1920s, Lewis began providing mortgages for individual homes. After
80 years of serving black southerners, the company closed its doors in 1987.
Lewis helped Booker T. Washington in establishing the national Negro Busi-
ness League. He also started Florida's first black-owned and operated
bottling company. Among his achievements with the insurance company,
Lewis was a philanthropist and humanitarian, donating to public and private
schools across the country to fund the education of the black youth.

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