Jesse Hill Jr.

Atlanta businessman and civil rights leader Jesse Hill Jr. was named the recipient of the 2006 Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Progress and Service — the first African-American to be honored.

The annual award is given by the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts to a distinguished public figure whose service over a lifetime has significantly contributed to the progress of the quality of life in Georgia.

Hill, the retired chairman and chief executive officer of Atlanta Life Insurance Co., organized voter registration campaigns in Atlanta in the 1950s and urged his workers to support the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement both financially and as staff volunteers. Hill and Atlanta Life broke racial barriers in the insurance industry by demanding home mortgage financing at fair interest rates for blacks in the South.

Born in St. Louis, Hill graduated from Lincoln University in 1947 with a bachelor's in mathematics and physics. In 1949, he received an MBA from the University of Michigan.

Previous recipients of the award are former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, Cls 60, co-chairman and chief executive officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative; nationally syndicated columnist Molly Ivins; former President Jimmy Carter, Cls 46; former U.S. Sen. and Georgia Gov. Zell Miller; and Will Wright, co-founder of Maxis and original designer of SimCity and The Sims computer games.

Hill will receive the award at the college's Founder's Day luncheon March 15.

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