No little speculation exists in the mind of the newly made Mason as to the status of Negro Freemasonry, so called. The fact that lodges made tip of colored men, imitating and claiming to be 'Masons, using regalia and emblems copied from legitimate Freemasonry, are in existence, naturally excites a curiosity to know whence the American negro derived his alleged Freemasonry and what relationship, if any, it hears to that adopted and practiced by the white man.
The origin of Free-masonry among the negroes of the United States is as follows: On the sixth day of March, 1775, an army lodge chartered by the Grand Lodge of England attached to one of the regiments under General Gage stationed in Boston, Massachusetts, initiated Prince Hall and fourteen colored men of that city into the mysteries of the fraternity. From that beginning, with small additions from foreign countries, commenced Masonry among the negroes. It was the custom in those primitive clays to permit brethren who were regularly made to assemble as a lodge, and the presumption is that the fifteen negroes who had received their Masonic degrees in the army body met as a lodge, but there is nothing to indicate that they did anything in the way of conferring degrees. On March 2, 1784, Prince Hall and his fourteen companions applied to the Grand Lodge of England for a charter or warrant. This document was is sued to them on September 29, 1784. They were given the designation of African Lodge No. 459, with Prince Hall as Master. For some reason, this charter was not received until May 2, 1787, nearly three years after its official date.
During the year 1919, members of the Mystic Shrine at Atlanta, Georgia, secured an injunction against certain colored men in that city, prohibiting them from using any of the signs, secret work, or appliances of that body. During the litigation, a copy of the old warrant issued to African Lodge No. 459 was brought into court from Baltimore, Maryland. It is reproduced in this discussion as a matter of general information:
WARRANT OF CONSTITUTION A. F. M.
To All and Every: Our right worshipful and loving brethren: We, Thomas Howard, Earl of Effingham, Lord Howard, etc., Acting Grand Master, tinder the authority of his Royal Highness, Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland, etc., Grand Master of the Most Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Ancient Masons send greetings.
Know ye that we, at the humble petition
of our Right Trusty and well beloved brethren, Prince Hall, Boston
Smith, Thomas Sanderson, and several other brethren residing in
Boston, New England, in North America, do hereby constitute the
said brethren into a regular Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons,
under the title or denomination of the African Lodge, to be opened
in Boston, aforesaid, and do further at their said petition and
of the great trust and confidence reposed in each of the said
above named brethren, hereby appoint the said Prince Hall to be
Master; Boston Smith, Senior Warden; and Thomas Sanderson, Junior
Warden, for opening the said Lodge, and for such further time
only as shall be thought by the brethren thereof, it being our
will that this, our appointment of the above officers, shall in
no wise affect any future election of officers of said Lodge,
but that such election shall be regulated, agreeable to such By-Laws
of the said Lodge as shall be consistent with the Grand Laws of
the Society, contamed in the Book of Constitutions; between 1848
and 1852 and we hereby will, and require of
you, the said Prince Hall, to take special care that all and every,
the said brethren, are to have been regularly made Masons, and
that they do observe, perform, and keep all the rules and orders
contained in the Book of Constitutions and further that you do
from time to time cause to be entered in a book kept for that
purpose, an account of your proceedings in the Lodge, together
with all such rules, orders, and regulations as shall be made
for the good government of the same; and in no wise you omit once
in every year to send to us, or our successors, Grand Masters,
or Rowland Holt, Esq., our Deputy Grand Master for the time being,
an account of your said proceedings and copies of all such rules,
orders and regulations as shall be made as aforesaid, together
with the list of the members of the Lodge, and such sum of money
as may suit the circumstances of the Lodge, and reasonably be
expected toward the Grand Charity. Moreover, we will, and require
of you, the Prince Hall, as soon as conveniently may be, to send
an account in writing of what may be done by virtue of these presents.
Given at London, under our hand and seal of Masonry, this 29th day of September A. L. 5784 A. D. 1784 by the Grand Master's command."
African Lodge remained upon the English register until the union of the two rival Grand Lodges of Moderns and Ancients into the United Grand Lodge of England in the year 1813, when it was erased from the records because of its failure to contribute to the Charity Fund of the Grand Body.
But this by no means meant the elimination of Negro Masonry in the United States. Prince Hall was a man of more than usual ability. He worked zealously in the cause of Masonry and from 1792 until his death in 1807, he exercised all the functions of a provincial Grand Master. In 1797 he issued a license to thirteen black men, who had been made Masons in England to assemble and work as a lodge in Philadelphia. He also granted authority for the formation of a lodge in Providence, R. I. In 1808 these three lodges joined in forming African Grand Lodge, of Boston, now known as Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. The second colored Grand Lodge called the First Independent African Grand Lodge of North America for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was organized in 1815, and shortly after a third came into existence known as the Hiram Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. In 1847, these three Grand Bodies fully recognized one another and joined in the formation of a National Grand Lodge, which has long since passed out of existence. Practically all negro lodges in the United States are descended from one or the other of the negro lodges, which were constituted by Prince Hall and later formed the various Grand Lodges which have already been spoken of.
Regardless of the apparent regular way and manner in which negro Masonry was introduced into the United States, the question of its legitimacy has been one widely discussed and over which there has been much controversy due largely to racial prejudice. The status of Negro Masonry in this country was perhaps never better defined than it was by Albert Pike in 1875, when he said, "Prince Hall Lodge was as regular a Lodge as any Lodge created by competent authority. It had a perfect right to establish other Lodges and make itself a Mother Lodge. I am not inclined to meddle in the matter.
I took my obligations from white men, not from negroes. When I have to accept negroes as brothers or leave Masonry, I shall leave it. Better let the thing drift." This very frank statement by Albert Pike sums up the exact feeling that is exhibited toward Negro Masonry at the present time.
Certain objections to the legitimacy of Negro Masonry have been offered. But they are the complaints of the prejudiced. The student who wants to know the truth and is willing to weigh things impartially must conclude that these objections are more in the nature of excuses, and would never be brought forward were it not for the antithesis of race, which for generations has divided the white man and the black man and caused them to remain at a perpetual distance.
Among the most forcible objections which have been offered is that the warrant by whose authority Negro Masonry was formed was issued by a Grand Lodge which had seceded from the Grand Lodge of England and was known as The Ancients; that between the time of granting the warrant and delivery of the same to African Lodge, the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts had been formed thereby acquiring exclusive Masonic jurisdiction over the territory in which African Lodge was constituted; that it was illegal for the further reason that there was in Massachusetts a Provincial Grand Lodge of which General Joseph Warren was Grand Master; that an examination of the charter issued to African Lodge discloses no authority whatsoever permitting African Lodge to admit anyone to its membership except Masons. No authority was given in the warrant either to make Masons or establish lodges and for this reason, when the lodge was erased from the roll by action of the Grand Lodge of England, colored Freemasonry in America forever ended.
On the other hand, some very distinguished and reliable Masonic writers have declared in all candor that African Lodge was just as legitimate as any lodge formed in the United States, and that therefore Negro Freemasonry is legitimate notwithstanding the existing prejudice which prohibits a recognition of that form of Masonry by the white man. It has been pointed out that African Lodge was warranted by the English Grand Lodge only as a lodge, and without any of the functions of a Grand Lodge and was, therefore, powerless to authorize the formation of other lodges. Yet there are abundant instances of where single lodges developed into Mother Lodges and numerous examples can be found in Europe and Asia where individual Masons on their own authority set up lodges which were afterwards universally accepted as legitimate. In our country Fredericksburg Lodge of Virginia was unable to furnish any claim to its existence as a chartered body, yet it had made George Washington a Mason and had organized a Lodge at Gloucester Court House.
This Lodge joined in the formation of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, and was accepted by that body as legitimate and regular.
St. Andrew's lodge of Boston, Mass., received its charter from the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1760, yet this lodge made Masons in 1753. In 1758 it gave to the Masonic world that illustrious Freemason, General Joseph Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill.
As to the careless manner of creating lodges and propagating Masonry which was so apparent in the beginning of the Eighteenth Century, George W. Speth of England, states that "throughout the last Century and well into this, lodges have been formed by British Masonry without previous consent or authority of the Grand Lodge or of the Grand Master.
Neither have the founders of the Lodges been censured for their irregularity of conduct."
As to the claim that the formation of African Lodge was an invasion of rights of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, it is asserted that for several years there were two Grand Lodges in England. New York, at one time, had three; South Carolina, two, so that the presence of two constituted author it's in a jurisdiction was not unusual because of the generally disorganized condition of Masonry in those early times and the lack of coordinated effort.
Concerning the objection which has been offered that the Negro Lodge rejected from its ritualistic formula the word "free-born" and inserted in its place the word "free," it is pointed out by the Supporters of colored Masonry that the old Masonic documents from which Masonry draws much of its data and ritual makes use of the word "free," but not "freeborn." It is also asserted that the Grand Lodge of England, in 1838, struck the word "freeborn" from its list and inserted the word "free," proving conclusively that the word "freeborn" which appears in the ritual of Masonry, is not a fixed entity but has been made use of in accordance with the views of ritual builders from time to time. One of the strongest claims advanced against the legitimacy of colored Masonry is that the formation of Prince Hall Grand Lodge was in fact an ultimatum on the part of Negro Masonry to establish its own freedom and independence and in view of a protocol issued on the 18th day of June, 1827, its constituents publicly declared themselves free and independent of any lodge and declined to be governed by any body other than their own.
As we now understand the fraternity, this revival of colored Masonry and its assumption of Grand Lodge authority was illegal and from that day rendered the Prince Hall Grand Lodge and all its constituents as clandestine.
Regardless of the way and manner that Negro
Masonry arose in America it is today regarded as spurious and
illegitimate, a condition which will exist as long as human prejudice
separates the white man and the black man.
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