Born into slavery, he started in Atlanta as a young barber, eventually owning three shops.

For many years, the life insurance company was one of the most prominent African-American businesses in the United States.

[2] In 1905, a slave-born barber Alonzo Franklin Herndon founded Atlanta Life Insurance Company.

Herndon bought a small self-help association known as the Atlanta Benevolent and Protective Association for $140, which Reverend Peter Bryant of Wheat Street Baptist Church had established the year before.

[3] In 2008, William A. Clement, Jr. was appointed as President & CEO of the Atlanta Life Financial Group, Inc., and served for three years in that capacity.