Charles Clinton Spaulding was an African -American business man who presided over the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, located in Durham, for almost thirty years. The original location was on the northern side of West Parrish Street in the downtown area known as Durham’s Black Wall Street. The company was founded in 1898 by seven African-American businessmen. Dr. Aaron Moore was one of these men and his nephew, Charles Clinton Spaulding, took the leadership role in 1900. The company became America’s largest Black owned business in 1910. The original building was constructed in 1921, and its second headquarters, was the second-tallest building in Durham at the time. The Mechanics and Farmers Bank was located on the second floor.
North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company
West Parrish Street, Durham NC
Charles Spaulding was born in Columbus County, North Carolina. He lived on the family farm until he went to live with his uncle in Durham. Spaulding learned much of his business savvy from his father who in addition to being a farmer, blacksmith, carpenter, was the sheriff of Columbus County. Seeing his father work several jobs, set a good example for Charles who worked as a dishwasher, waiter, and bellhop: all the while, earning his high school diploma in 1898. After graduation he was hired as the manager for a struggling Black owned grocery store. The owners of the store sold their interest in the sore in 1899, which caused Spaulding to be out of work and in debt.
His uncle and another family friend John Merrick along with five others then hired Charles to manage their new business venture. Spaulding’s title was general manager, and this included wearing many hats, including selling policies and traveling to find potential clients. The book Scale and Scope : The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism by Alfred Chandler references this when it mentions that a company’s general manager is largely responsible for its success or failure; and also, its performance quality and overall profit margin. If we are to believe this interpretation, then the success of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company was due to the excellent management efforts of Spaulding because at the time he was the only person working for the new life insurance company. He expanded the business into South Carolina and by 1908, the company had in excess of 100,000 clients.
Charles Clinton Spaulding Poster - 1943
The company had numerous struggles and setbacks during the Great Depression, but Spaulding managed to reconstruct the business and run it more efficiently by minimizing expenses and reducing the staff needed for daily operations. In the 1920’s and 1930’3 Spaulding won numerous business awards and achievements. He joined President Herbert Hoover’s Federal Relief Committee, and during the second world war he invested a sizable percentage of the company’s funds in U.S. government bonds. Most of these were sold to African-Americans.
Spaulding also was president of The Mechanics and Farmers Bank. The bank became financially involved in the daily operations of the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association and by 1915, the bank had acquired $50,000. In 1923, a branch opened in Raleigh, making it the only African-American-owned bank to operate a branch. Most of the bank’s customers were Black mechanics and tobacco farmers who deposited their weekly pay from selling their services and products at the local markets. Customers also included Black professionals, mostly teachers, doctors, lawyers, and other local small business owners. The bank lent money to customers for buying homes and for educational funding. Loans totaling $200,000 were made to people and the bank presided over 500 properties. It also loaned the Jewish community the funds to build a synagogue. During the Great Depression the bank survived and was able to meet all financial obligations; and by 1940 the bank was worth $210,000 according to the stock exchange. Due to Spaulding’s superb managerial abilities, the bank overcame hard times, when many others did not. Chandler also believes that the number of successful entrepreneurs in leading industries were and are directly affected by managerial decisions and responses. These were indicative of the changing business market, technological advances, and the political and social environment relevant to the time they were established.
Mechanics and Farmers Bank Interior
Durham, NC -1922
Spaulding’s influence and excellent money management can still be felt in today’s bank expansion of nine branches, including two in Winston Salem, two in Raleigh, and one in Charlotte. The tradition of providing service with a special touch is still evident, particularly among its 90 percent African-American customer base. While helping to financially uphold Shaw University (a HBCU), the bank now includes Fortune 500 Companies such as Avon, Kellogg’s, and Gulf and Western: all the while, keeping its core customer base of the Black middle class. In 1999 the bank became a subsidiary of M & F Bancorp.
Upon Charles Spaulding’s death in 1952, North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance company was worth approximately $40 million dollars and is still going strong today. His legacy and business acumen has inspired young entrepreneurs across racial lines and from all levels of society.
Source List:
"Business Briefs." Black Enterprise, 01, 1990. 20, https://www.proquest.com/docview/217864748/F6190236D8684624PQ/2?accountid=12085&parentSessionId=LDYkMDzGg19Sd466nFPQBeqrbErEz98SCvUDZnxzvEg%3D Accessed April5, 2022.
Chandler Jr., Alfred D., and Chandler, Alfred D., Jr. Scale and Scope : The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism. London: Harvard University Press, 1994. Accessed April 5, 2022. ProQuest Ebook Central.
“Charles Clinton Spaulding (1874-1952” ,The North Carolina History Project, 2016, https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/charles-clinton-spaulding-1874-1952/
Mitchell, Constance. "Mechanics & Farmers: Branch Banking at its Best." Black Enterprise, 06, 1987. 196, https://www.proquest.com/docview/217874793/abstract/5C02C78FA4514CECPQ/1?accountid=12085 Accessed April5, 2022
Williams, Wiley J., “Mechanics and Farmers Bank”, NCPedia, 2006,
https://www.ncpedia.org/mechanics-and-farmers-bank Accessed April6, 2022.
Examples for Further Reading:
Butler, John Sibley. Entrepreneurship and Self-Help Among Black Americans : A
Reconsideration of Race and Economics, Revised Edition. Vol. Rev. ed. SUNY Series in
Ethnicity and Race in American Life. Albany: SUNY Press, 2005.
Rogers, W. Sherman. The African American Entrepreneur : Then and Now. Santa Barbara,
Calif: Praeger, 2010.
Images:
Charles Clinton Spaulding Poster from Office of War Information. Domestic Operations
Branch. News Bureau, 1943 by Charles Henry Alston, 1907-1977, Artist (NARA record:
3569253) - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16895497Accessed April 5, 2022
Old North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Building and The second headquarters of
Mechanics and Farmers Bank by Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD, Historic Photos (View from
Across the Street), Created March 6, 2007, from Wikimedia Commons,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanics_and_Farmers_Bank#/media/File:Interior_Mechanics_&_Famers_Bank.jpg Accessed April5, 2022.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:KLOTZ, Accessed April5, 2022.
A photograph of the inside of Mechanics & Farmers Bank, a Durham "Black Wall Street"
institution. Taken circa 1922, the work depicts bank president C. C. Spaulding and
cashier W. H. Wilson. Published as part of the booklet Milestones Along the Color Line :
A Souvenir of Durham, N.C.: Showing the Progress of a Race by Oliver B. Quick, 1922.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanics_and_Farmers_Bank#/media/File:Interior_Mechanics_&_Famers_Bank.jpg Accessed April5, 2022.
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