Though he would become a highly successful man, Abraham Lincoln Lewis (better known as A.L.) came from humble beginnings. He was born in Madison in 1865, his father a blacksmith and both parents formerly enslaved.
A.L. was one of seven founders of the first insurance company in Florida, the Afro-American Life Insurance Company in Jacksonville, and became the Florida’s first Black millionaire. He also founded the community of American Beach, founded as a prestigious vacation spot for blacks during the period of racial segregation.
He helped to found both the Negro Business League and the National Negro Insurance Association. He was a heavy contributor to black colleges such as Jacksonville’s Edward Waters College as well as Bethune-Cookman College.
Due to the Jim Crow laws of the day, Blacks were not allowed to enjoy many basic recreational amenities. A.L. realized the need for Black families to have a place to relax, so he founded the Lincoln Golf and Country Club, which featured a clubhouse and facilities.
In 1935, Lewis purchased 200 acres of Nassau County beachfront land along the Atlantic Ocean. Blacks were not permitted on most beaches in Jacksonville, and it was A.L.’s dream to create a community where African Americans could visit and own affordable homes along the ocean.
This community, which he named American Beach, was a thriving tourist spot from the 1930’s to the 1950’s. Summers at American Beach were known for being jammed with families, churches and children.
A.L. Lewis died in 1947 and was interred in the family crypt in a historic Black Jacksonville cemetery.
An amazing fact about his wife, Mary, is that she is a direct descendant of Anna Magjigine Jai. Anna was originally a princess from Senegal who was kidnapped, enslaved, purchased, freed, and married to plantation owner Zephaniah Kingsley. This gives descendants of Anna and Mary a powerful direct link to Africa that they can call by name.
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