Rapid Expansion into the Ohio River Valley

An interracial group of men and women attending a stockholders meeting in 1965 (017PC39.15).

President Julius Price, Sr. surrounded by three African-American Boy Scouts and two African-American Cub Scouts from the Shawnee District in Louisville, Kentucky (017PC39.28).

A group of unidentified African-American men posing in front of two signs, one of which reads the "Sales Commission Success Formula" (017PC39.30).

An unidentified group of African-American men and women in an office in Detroit, Michigan (017PC39.33).

Page 14, Section 2 of the The Louisville Defender published on Thursday, February 11, 1965 that appears to be an ad taken out by the company for its 50th anniversary under President Junius E. Hankins (Mss. C M ovsz.)

By the mid-1960s, Mammoth Life and Accident Insurance, Co. had expanded into much of the Midwest and Ohio River Valley. The company was also operating district offices in more than twenty cities. With assets in the millions and several hundred employees on its payroll, Mammoth Life was thriving. But, in an era of increasing demands for full integration, Mammoth Life was under pressure from an unlikely source: white-owned insurance companies. For the first time in decades, the corporation had to compete for Black clients and reach out to new customers. Despite the new challenges, Mammoth Life continued to grow and never forgot their community back home in Kentucky.

Futher Reading:

Kleber, John E. “Mammoth Life and Accident Insurance Company.” In The Encyclopedia of Louisville. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky, 2001. 585-586.

Smith, Gerald L., McDaniel, Karen Cotton, and Hardin, John A. "Mammoth Life and Accident Insurance Company." In The Kentucky African American Encylopedia. Lexington, Kentucky: The University of Kentucky Press, 2015. 344-345.