When insurance
companies did accept them as clients, they were charged higher
rates than were whites. During the nineteenth century, various
Negro secret societies attempted to develop insurance programs
for their members. In 1898 the National Benefit Insurance Company
was opened in Washington. Owned by blacks, it deliberately
sought out Negro patronage. In the same year, the Mutual Benefit
Insurance Company was opened in North Carolina along similar
lines.
White undertakers and beauticians were reluctant to cater to
Negro customers. Aside from their personal tastes, they
feared that it would alienate their white patrons. A similar
situation held true for dentists and doctors. This forced the
Afro-American community to develop its own professionals. By
1900, Negroes had invested half a million dollars in undertaking
establishments. that same year, the Afro-American community had
produced 1,700 physicians, 212 dentists, 728 lawyers, 310
journalists, an several thousand college, secondary, and
elementary school teachers.
Other Negro professionals, finding themselves excluded from
existing official affiliations formed their own professional
fraternity in 1904.
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