Alonzo Franklin Herndon
Alonzo Franklin Herndon
Alonzo Herndon was born in 1858 as a slave on a plantation in Georgia. His parents were; Sophie his mother and also a slave, and Frank Herndon a white man his owner and master. The early years of his life were harsh and full of turmoil. Emancipated in the year 1865 at the end of the civil war his life remained a harsh one. Soon he and his family took up sharecropping to feed themselves and have a place to live. Even in his early years of turmoil his showed great signs of entrepreneurship. Using his spare time he would sell peanuts, homemade molasses, and axel grease to support his family. The little he had left over he saved so that he could leave Social Circle improving his social and economic conditions. In 1878 he succeeded in this and left on foot with eleven dollars and approximately one year of schooling. His first stop was the town of Senoia. He worked as a farmhand and learned the profession of barber. Soon he left there on his way to Jonesborough; here he opened his own barbershop. He stayed here for five years earning him a good reputation as a barber and then moved on to many other locations before he settled in Atlanta, Georgia. Here he started working in a barber shop and soon purchased half the stock coming into partnership with one of the few free black barbershops in the country since the civil war. In 1900 he joined Atlanta delegates in attending the founding meeting of the National Negro Business League. He was among the 29 men who attended the founding meeting in 1905. He married in 1893. he later died in
Alonzo Herndon was born in 1858 as a slave on a plantation in Georgia. His parents were; Sophie his mother and also a slave, and Frank Herndon a white man his owner and master. The early years of his life were harsh and full of turmoil. Emancipated in the year 1865 at the end of the civil war his life remained a harsh one. Soon he and his family took up sharecropping to feed themselves and have a place to live. Even in his early years of turmoil his showed great signs of entrepreneurship. Using his spare time he would sell peanuts, homemade molasses, and axel grease to support his family. The little he had left over he saved so that he could leave Social Circle improving his social and economic conditions. In 1878 he succeeded in this and left on foot with eleven dollars and approximately one year of schooling. His first stop was the town of Senoia. He worked as a farmhand and learned the profession of barber. Soon he left there on his way to Jonesborough; here he opened his own barbershop. He stayed here for five years earning him a good reputation as a barber and then moved on to many other locations before he settled in Atlanta, Georgia. Here he started working in a barber shop and soon purchased half the stock coming into partnership with one of the few free black barbershops in the country since the civil war. In 1900 he joined Atlanta delegates in attending the founding meeting of the National Negro Business League. He was among the 29 men who attended the founding meeting in 1905. He married in 1893. he later died in