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Herndon was born a slave on a Walton County plantation and grew up in social circle.
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Herndon started to work for a short time at a salary of $25 a year for his former master although he moved quickly to another job
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By the early 1900s, he had opened three new shops
for white customers. Herndon began buying property, and
he soon owned a block of office buildings on Auburn Avenue -
In 1905, Herndon bought a small insurance company for $140. He knew little about insurance, so he hired African American college graduates to run the Atlanta Mutual Insurance Company.
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During his presidency of the Atlanta Mutual Insurance
Company, Herndon died
