The work of the year's of the fifties represented the beginning of worthy trends and the establishment of Masonic traditions for Prince Hall Masonry in Ohio. This decade, beginning in 1950, was a new period in the international and human relations of the world's people. On the national scene there was increase in integration in the schools, although in Ohio this was not a serious problem. Equality and acceptance along all lines were being debated in this period, and the leaders and members of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of the State of Ohio wanted also to advance on a plane of equality in Masonic life with all American Masons on the foundation of their Prince Hall heritage. They were proud of their Masonic lineage which they could trace in a straight line through Pennsylvania to Massachusetts and thence to England. They had undertaken to spread their Masonic light to other states and had continued this cooperation through long years. Ther sought in their day to find new expressions for the ideals of Prince Hall. The past was not to be forgotten for they would be loyal to it, learn from its lessons, build upon it, and they would accept and solve the problems of the future. They would solve their problems not through their own personal wisdom but upon the foundations of the Masonic wisdom of the past. To this end they consecrated themselves with each passing Annual Communication to the service of Prince Hall Masonry so that the crooked would be made straight, the rough places plain and so that Masons of all races and colors would see the goals together, as they continued to march magnificently forward to greater achievements as Grand Masters and Grand Officers, elected and appointed, passing on their leadership qualities and their individual contributions in Masonic life and history to their successors.
As they moved from the fifties to the sixties of the twentieth century, they were determined to become Prince Hall builders in their day, for they were builders for the future in the spirit and tradition of Prince Hall as completely as he built in his day. The color line had moved around the world by the period of the fifties. It was no longer a sectional problem. It was both national and international. The rights of man were now basic to the foreign policy of the United States. America could not lead the world unless it raised the status of the unfree in its own backyard. The leadership of the world was demanding this change. It was evident to our leadership that the United States could not continue in the leadership of the free world unless rights were granted to the persons of color within the, United States as an evidence of the veracity of its promises to a world in which colored populations predominated. It was clear that if the era of colonialism was over in Asia and Africa, the era of second class citizenship and color exclusion must be terminated at home, for this war our colonialism and our imperialism.
The pigmeniation of Prince Hall Masons might be different from those of the majority of the population within the United States - and in many cases it is not - but freedom under one God should be the same for all, as it was in the protestations and promises of the founding fathers. The Prince Hall Masons practice the same Masonry. They hold dear the same Masonic philosophy and ideals. Their origins go back to England from which also came the sources of other American Masonry. They are not illegitimate children in Masonry and no argument however specious can present positive and legal proof that they are. White Masons socalled - should discard their prejudices and live up to the precepts of Masonry and the teaching of their own founding fathers as Prince Hall Masons are living up to the teaching of their founding fathers.
Nevertheless, we have been moving nearer
to these Massonic ideals and the promise of the future is bright.
Color separation is no longer an at-home-policy. It is an aspect
of our foreign policy and program, and must be regarded as such.
American Masonry is in the salve situation as this aspect of the
nation. It should undertake a leadership in this area of American
life. Color separation is a blot upon the escutcheon of the Mason
and it must he removed, or American Masonry must cease to pronounce
itself a fraternity of brothers, for we cannot make the outside
world believe that we are as virtuous as we are as Masons and
at the same time act with the exclusion which is too evident in
Masonic circles. In spite of all of these evidences of incongruity
between the Masonic constitution, code and theory and the cruel
manifestations in practice, the Prince Hall Grand Lodge in Ohio
moves forward with confidence because it is aware that it is achieving
the promise of its founding father and manifesting in its own
theory and practice the promises of the founding fathers of Masonry.
