Founding
In the mid-1920s, when William Nickerson, Jr., an insurance salesman and publisher from Texas, arrived in Los Angeles, he was alarmed to discover that most of the 16,000 blacks living in the city were unable to obtain life insurance. Unable to afford an attorney, Nickerson studied law to determine the state's requirements to form a corporation to accommodate this need. He partnered with fellow insurance salesman Norman O. Houston and businessman George A. Beavers, Jr. to secure 500 pre-paid life insurance applications as well as the $15,000 deposit required by California. Houston raised the $15,000 and Beavers found 500 blacks that would pay premiums for a company that was yet to be established.
On July 23, 1925 they opened as the Golden State Guarantee Fund Insurance Company in a one-room office at 1435 Central Avenue, Los Angeles, with few amenities and $17,800 in capital. Within three months the company had outgrown its office and moved to a storeroom at 3512 Central Avenue. By the end of its first year the company had established an office in Oakland, California, had sold more than $260,000 in policies, and had $6,000 in reserves and a surplus of over $16,000. Within three years Golden State Insurance had over 100 employees including sixty agents as well as branches in Pasadena, Bakersfield, San Diego and Fresno.
Read more about this topic: Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company
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