John Merrick (insurance)
Merrick became a brick mason while simultaneously learning the barber trade “during a lull in construction” in order to make ends meet.
[5] Through his entrepreneurial experiences in the barbershop business, Merrick accumulated wealth and was able to build relationships with many prominent white families of the time.
[1] Many older members of Durham's African American community told stories of the fabulous gifts that Merrick received from his white confidantes.
Merrick's success did not stop there—his newly gained experience from his barbershop ventures propelled him further into the business world by laying the groundwork for the creation of many other prosperous companies.
R. Andrew McCants commented that “it is only natural that a man who has been personally very successful in the conduct of his own business,” which in Merrick's case was his barbershops, “become a leader in community enterprises,” a feat he achieved with the establishment of his various companies.
Together with Dr. Aaron Moore and Charles C. Spaulding, Merrick helped increase the wealth of the “oldest and largest African American life insurance company in the United States”.
[1] Merrick's plethora of triumphant business undertakings brought him wealth, power, and influence that not many other African Americans of the time could lay claim to.
Unlike most other blacks during the post-Reconstruction era who were constantly degraded and thought of as the “inferior race,” Merrick was looked up to in his community and became a well-known figure of power amongst Durham's citizens.
[10] The formation of Merrick's first company served as a transition into other ways that Merrick could help his African American community: he started the Merrick-Moore-Spaulding Real Estate Company in order to provide blacks in Durham with real estate insurance, because “regulations prevented North Carolina Mutual Life from offering” this service to customers.
[1] Through his philanthropic business ventures and charitable use of his accumulated wealth, Merrick provided the blacks of Durham with many necessary services that they would otherwise be ignorant of and lack access to.
The city's black elite had the chance to explore the real estate, insurance, banking, and pharmaceutical industries instead of accepting the strenuous, run-of-the-mill jobs that whites did not want.
It is noted in Merrick's biography that “young pharmacists” in the black community who did not have an opportunity to practice their trade were finally able to have access to the job that they truly desired with the development of the Bull City Drug Company.
Merrick's powerful status also served as an example to Durham's black community that they could rise to prominence and achieve entrepreneurial success no matter their skin tone.
His financial success and rising influence gave them hope—if John Merrick, a black once bound to slavery, could start his own business and ultimately build an empire, why couldn't they?
Not only did he defy supposed set-in-stone racial roles in order to achieve affluence that was customarily uncommon for blacks at the time, but he also rose to greatness with support from whites themselves.
Merrick then directed his wealth back into his community, and by doing so, provided services to blacks that improved their quality of life and presented them with new and diverse job opportunities.
The posthumous recognition was bestowed upon the group for their contributions to Durham as innovative leaders who established one of the nation's strongest African American entrepreneurial enclaves.
