Prince Hall
Prince Hall ( 1735 - December 4, 1807 ) is considered to be the founder of Freemasonry for blacks in the United States. Today it is known as Prince Hall Freemasonry (Prince Hall Freemasonry).
birth
Only guesses can be made about the date and place of birth. Hall was born in either Massachusetts or Barbados, and his year of birth is usually given as either 1735 or 1738. Tales of Prince Hall's birth and youth are not scientifically proven and appear to have been invented by their authors (most notably William H. Grimshaw, 1903).
The Massachusetts documents show that the slave owner William Hall released a man named Prince Hall on April 9, 1765. This source cannot be linked to Prince Hall because, according to this document, 21 men named Prince Hall have also been released. Several other free men with the same names lived in Boston at the same time. It is also not known whether he was born free or was a former freed slave .
The time as an activist in Boston
Prince Hall was a registered voter in Boston . He worked for abolitionism and was an activist in the civil rights movement . There he was specifically committed to laws that were drawn up for free blacks in Massachusetts to provide this protection against abduction by slave traders. He was also committed to setting up schools for black children; he himself ran a school in his own house.
On March 6, 1775, Prince Hall and fourteen other free black men were inducted into Freemasonry. The admission took place in a British field box , which was under the protection of Military Lodge No. 441 , which was based in Boston .
It is likely that Prince Hall served in the Massachusetts Army during the American Revolutionary War, but sources cannot support this claim because at least six Massachusetts men named Prince Hall served in the military at the same time. Historians George Washington Williams and Carter Woodson believe that Prince Hall fought in the Revolutionary War and was one of the many black soldiers who took part in the Battle of Bunker Hill on the American side .
Construction of the first black box
When the British Army left Boston in 1776, the Black Freemasons had an exemption for limited lodge activities; they were named as African Lodge No. 1 . According to this exemption, they were allowed to visit other lodges and participate in their temple work. They were also allowed to take part in the procession on the Masonic St. John's Day and to bury their dead with Masonic ceremonies. However, they were not allowed to give their members a higher degree on their own initiative.
Excluded from the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, Prince Hall advocated legitimizing his lodge and turned to the United Grand Lodge of England , which issued him a deed of foundation on March 2, 1784, which was not received immediately due to communication problems, and only in 1787 reached their destination.
Shortly thereafter, black Masons across the United States began contacting Prince Hall with requests to establish their own black lodges in their respective cities. In accordance with European Masonic practice, the African Lodge No. 1 served as the mother lodge for the newly created black Africa lodges in Philadelphia and New York .
A problem quickly arose for the black men who had joined the Freemasonry Federation in the newly founded United States: For example, the members of a lodge had to unanimously accept a new member by voting, also known as balling . The requirement of only unanimous results meant that the vote of a single member of a lodge was enough to reject the application for admission. Since these votes were carried out anonymously, racists could not be identified in their own ranks. As a result, some blacks were not allowed to join a lodge.
Foundation of the first black grand lodge
In 1791 black Freemasons met in Boston and founded the African Grand Lodge of North America . Prince Hall was unanimously elected its first Grand Master, and held that post until his death in 1807. The African Grand Lodge of North America was later renamed Prince Hall Grand Lodge in honor of its founder.
In 1827 the African Grand Lodge of North America declared independence from the United Grand Lodge of England, just as the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts had done 45 years earlier. It also declared its independence from all white grand lodges in the United States.
After nearly two centuries of controversy, the United Grand Lodge of England had been asked to determine the legitimacy of Prince Hall Freemasonry. She carefully studied the records and came to the conclusion that the Prince Hall Grand Lodge deserves full recognition and legitimation, although this went against the tradition that there should only be one recognized Masonic Grand Lodge per state.
Prince Hall in current affairs
Today there are predominantly black Prince Hall Grand Lodges in the United States, Canada , the Caribbean, and Liberia, as well as all over the world.
Molefi Kete Asante lists Prince Hall in his biographical dictionary of the 100 greatest African-Americans.
literature
- Draffen of Newington, George (May 13, 1976). Prince Hall Freemasonry . Scotland: The Phylaxis Society. Reprinted at Phylaxis Society: Prince Hall Freemasonry ( January 6, 2006 memento on the Internet Archive ) (accessed December 29, 2004).
- Edward, Bruce John (June 5, 1921). Prince Hall, the Pioneer of Negro Masonry. Proofs of the Legitimacy of Prince Hall Masonry . New York.
- Grimshaw, William H., Past Grand Master, 1907 of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Washington, District of Columbia (1903). Official History of Free Masonry Among the Colored People in North America . Note: significant claims in this book have been discredited by later research.
- Haunch, TO (Commentary on the illegitimacy of alleged Provincial Grand Master patent.) Phylaxis Society: Reviews of Prince Hall Freemasonry ( February 17, 2006 memento on the Internet Archive ) (accessed December 29, 2004).
- Moniot, Joseph E. Prince Hall Lodges History-Legitimacy-Quest for recognition. Proceedings , Vol. VI, No. 5, Walter F. Meier Lodge of Research No. 281, Grand Lodge of Washington.
- Roundtree, Alton G., and Paul M. Bessel (2006). Out of the Shadows: Prince Hall Freemasonry in America, 200 Years of Endurance . Forestville MD: KLR Publishing. ISBN 0-9772385-0-4
- Walkes, Jr., Joseph A (1979). Black Square and Compass - 200 years of Prince Hall Freemasonry , p. 8. Richmond, Virginia: Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Co.
- Wesley, Dr. Charles H (1977). Prince Hall: Life and Legacy . Washington, DC: The United Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, Prince Hall Affiliation and the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum. Reprinted in Prince Hall Masonic Directory, 4th Edition (1992). Conference of Grand Masters, Prince Hall Masons.
Individual evidence
- ^ Prince Hall. On www.pbs.org (accessed September 10, 2014)
- ↑ James Young: Prince Hall. On www.princehallmemorial.org, October 19, 2010 (accessed September 10, 2014)
- ↑ Sidney Kaplan and Emma Nogrady Kaplan: The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, 1989, ISBN 0-87023-663-6 , p. 203.
- ^ Molefi Kete Asante: 100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Prometheus Books, Amherst, New York, 2003, ISBN 1-57392-963-8 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hall, Prince |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Founder of Freemasonry for Blacks in the United States |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1735 |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 4, 1807 |