User:Doncram/February DYKs/Norris Bumstead Herndon

Norris Bumstead Herndon (July 15, 1897 – June 15, 1977 ) was a light-skinned black businessman of Atlanta, Georgia.

He was son of Alonzo Franklin Herndon (1858–1927), who was born into slavery in Social Circle, Georgia.

Norris was born in Atlanta in 1897.

Norris passed for white when attending public school.

He graduated, in 1919, from Atlanta University, and from the Harvard Business School in 1921. He then joined the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, his father’s firm, at first as a cashier. He eventually became the second president of the company, at age 28, after his father died in 1927.

He supported the preservation of the Herndon Home, which is a U.S. National Historic Landmark.