Black History Month Local Masonic lodges serve God, neighbors

Source: NWTN Today

Prince Hall Grand Lodge by changing the name as a testament to their respect for this first Grand Master.

Pennsylvania took an early lead in Masonic expansion and chartered many subordinates to the west and south of the state.

Still, the path was not always easy and “The Great Controversy” arose over the question of Negro Masonry.

Color was the first issue threatening the future of the newly-formed lodges which sprang from this early effort in the new country. A warrant issued in England by the Grand Master removed this charge, however, so opposers fell back on the theory that one must be “free born” to become a Mason. President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, declaring the freedom of those in slavery and its eventual power within the former states of the Confederacy as well as the Union states, did away with this impediment, as well.

Still others sought to question the legitimacy of these colored Masonic bodies by ignoring the history of both white and colored Masonic organizations in America, according to the late R.E. Moore, who authored a study of the subject in 1899. He referred “doubters” to the original warrant, No. 459, issued to African Lodge of Boston Mass., and at the time of his writing in the possession of Prince Hall Lodge of Boston. 

Following an application put forth in 1896 by several colored Masons to the Grand Lodge of Washington for recognition, a careful committee study was launched and for a year the group reviewed every phase of the subject and carried on correspondence with Masons, white and colored, throughout the United States. This group signed a document attesting to their belief in the legitimacy of Negro Masonry and the report was approved by the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Washington.

“Thus, all legitimate Masonry among colored men in America must trace its historic origin to Prince Hall in order to obtain respectable sanction in the Masonic world,” according to the organization’s history.

Men as Masons

“Your manhood does not depend upon your position, but upon your character,” says a quote from “The Masonic Monitor.”  “The establishment, as well as the acknowledgment, of true manhood is in your own hands. Too many think that reputation ensures it: Do not wait for that. See the true definition of a man and then exemplify it. Do not have two characters, one for your fellows and another for privacy. Be a true man in your own home as well as out in Life. Scorn to debase yourself because the door of publicity is locked. Let even your own solitude keep company with the gentleman within it. Speak the same language to men that you do to your mother. Look upon women as you would have men look upon your sisters. Resent the unclean speech as a challenge against your claim to good breeding. Demand respectful treatment from your neighbor, but first command your own self-respect. Let nothing be more intolerable in your sight than the letting down of yourself to a lower level. Do not measure your importance by your titles or your money but by the texture of your character and the cleanliness of your speech. Make others know always that a gentleman stands before them. It is your duty as a man among men; as a Son, or Husband, or Father; as a Citizen of this great Republic; as a daily obligated Master Mason; as the most glorious climax of all created things; for the true man is the human image of the true God.”

Published in The Messenger 2.26.09