He began life as a slave but, at 47, Alonzo Herndon started the company that became one of America’s most successful black-owned businesses. Alonzo Franklin Herndon was born in Social Circle, the son of a black mother and a white owner.
With just a year of formal education, he opened a barbershop in Jonesboro in 1878 then moved to Atlanta. By the turn of the century, he owned three barber shops, serving some of Atlanta’s most elite white citizens. One, the elegant “Crystal Palace,” operated until 1972.