Jesse Hill

Born in 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri, to Nancy Dennis Martin and Jesse Hill, he grew up in a poor socio-economic background and attended public schools in St. Louis. He graduated from Lincoln University in Jefferson City with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics in 1947. He received his MBA from the University of Michigan in 1949. ==Career==

Hill's career in business began in 1949 when he moved to Atlanta, the center of African American entrepreneurship in the United States during the mid-twentieth century. He joined the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, one of the country's largest and most successful black-owned businesses, as assistant actuary; he was only the second African American actuary in the country. When he first moved to the city, Hill lived at the Butler Street YMCA in Atlanta, the headquarters of the city's black leadership during the period. He also volunteered for both the Urban League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). During his first two decades with Atlanta Life, Hill became vice president and the chief actuary of the company. From 1973 to 1992, Jesse Hill Jr. was president and chief executive officer of Atlanta Life, becoming the company's third president and the first not to be a family member of Alonzo Herndon, Atlanta Life's founder. During Hill's tenure as chief executive, Atlanta Life experienced a significant period of growth. Total assets, revenues, profits, and shareholder value all surpassed previous levels. During the 1970s, Atlanta Life Insurance Co. was the largest privately held black business in the country, with 85 million dollars in assets. Hill and Atlanta Life Insurance Company worked to increase African American access to affordable home-mortgage financing in Georgia, Alabama, Texas, and Florida. Hill retired from Atlanta Life in 1995. == Black movement ==

In 1960, along with Herman J. Russell, Jesse Hill Jr. founded the black newspaper Atlanta Inquirer, the second black newspaper in Atlanta. With Herman Russell, he bred the black "social worker types" to reach for more black representatives in local politics. This new black political class was eventually criticized as the "new old guard" since voters felt those new leaders forgot about the black cause once they had been sworn into office. == Education ==

Jesse Hill chaired the All-Citizens Registration Committee and helped to desegregate the Atlanta Public School system. During the 1990s, he received an honorary doctor of laws degree from his alma mater, the University of Michigan. In 2001, in recognition of contributions to the city, Butler Street in Atlanta was renamed in Hill's honor. Hill served on the boards of directors for eight major U.S. corporations, including Knight Ridder, Delta Air Lines, National Services Industries, and SunTrust, and was a founding director of MARTA, Atlanta's public transportation system. He has also served as the chairman of the board of directors for the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Atlanta. He was involved in the development of wireless communications in Nigeria. ==Personal life==

Hill and his wife, Azira, have two children and several grandchildren. He was a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. In Atlanta, Butler street was renamed Jesse Hill Junior drive after him. ==References==