DURHAM, N.C. — The oldest Black-owned insurance company in the United States is coming to an end.
Wake County's Superior Court has approved a petition to liquidate North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company.
What You Need To Know
North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company is in the process of liquidating
It has been serving the community since 1898 and has approximately 241,500 policyholders
Policy holders with N.C. Mutual can continue filing their claims normally
According to the North Carolina Department of Insurance, premiums are protected by the state’s guaranty association
N.C. Mutual in Durham has been serving the community since 1898 and is credited with helping launch Black Wall Street.
It has done business in 48 states and has more than 240,000 policy holders. It stopped writing new business in 2016, and in 2018 was placed into rehabilitation because of debts owed.
Now after four years of trying to recover, the liquidation process is starting.
“It is, in essence, almost an end to what I call one of the greatest empires, greatest African American empires in the country," said Andre Vann, university archives coordinator and instructor of public history at N.C. Central.
He studied at N.C. Central and has called Durham home ever since. In his time, he has studied the impact N.C. Mutual has made in the community.
N.C. Mutual initially offered burial insurance before expanding to industrial and life insurance.
"They were not satisfied with just being an insurance company," Vann said. "They also created other African American institutions and enterprises, many of which survive today, including Mechanics and Farmers Bank which dates back to 1908," he said. "And North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company also went out and had lots of investments in real estate. (And) also went out and heavily insured African Americans when many white insurance companies would not because of the level of morbidity.”
The company grew alongside M&F Bank, which still operates downtown. And together they make the pillars of what is Black Wall Street today, the birthplace of many black-owned businesses.
"People looked and pointed at Durham as that example, as that model for success among African American businesses," Vann said.
Ultimately, Vann said N.C. Mutual and its founders set a tone for Durham, building off its own success to foster other institutions for the Black community, like N.C. Central.
"The same founders set out with the same mindset to go out and create institutions to sort of train the next generation of African American leaders.”
Policy holders with N.C. Mutual can continue filing their claims normally. According to the North Carolina Department of Insurance, premiums are protected by the state’s guaranty association.
Questions can be directed to the claims department at (800) 626-1899.
Spectrum News 1 reached out to the N.C. Mutual team for comment on this story but has not heard back.