Charles Spaulding was born in North Carolina and attended Shaw University. Beginning in 1899, he helped manage the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. He was its president from 1923 to 1954, by which time it was the largest black business in the United States. Spaulding served concurrently as president of the Mechanics and Farmers Bank in Durham, North Carolina. He was also a member of the National Inter-Racial Commission and served on the executive committee of the National Urban League.

Sources:
Jacobs, Sylvia M. Dictionary of American Negro Biography. 1 st ed. New York : W.W. Norton & Company, 1982. pgs. 567-568.

 Who’s Who in Colored America . Ed. Thomas Yenser. 5 th ed. Thomas Yenser: New York, 1940. pg. 459.