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Exhibition Join In: Voluntary Assocations in America

Join In: Voluntary Assocations in America

Prince Hall Freemasonry

Prince Hall (1748–1807). A Charge, Delivered to the African Lodge, June 24, 1797, at Menotomy. Boston: Printed by Benjamin Edes, 1797. Ebenezer Hazard Pamphlet Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (028.00.00)
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Prince Hall (1748–1807). A Charge, Delivered to the African Lodge, June 24, 1797, at Menotomy. Boston: Printed by Benjamin Edes, 1797. Ebenezer Hazard Pamphlet Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (028.00.00)
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Freemasons. Prince Hall Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia. Directory of the Grand and Subordinate Lodges, F.A.A.M. of the District of Columbia, 1903–1905. Washington, ca. 1905. Daniel Murray Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (029.00.00)
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Freemasons. Prince Hall Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia. Directory of the Grand and Subordinate Lodges, F.A.A.M. of the District of Columbia, 1903–1905. Washington, ca. 1905. Daniel Murray Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (029.00.00)
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Prince Hall Freemasonry

Prince Hall, a leather worker, abolitionist, and Methodist lay minister, sought to open a Masonic lodge for Black men in America. After being rejected by Freemasonic lodges in Boston because of race, he requested a charter from the Premier Grand Lodge of England, which was granted September 29, 1784, with Hall installed as Worshipful Master. Prince Hall Freemasonry has historically advanced African American citizenship and education. Under influential figures such as Thurgood Marshall, Wiley Branton, and Amos T. Hall, Prince Hall Masons were actively involved in the African American Civil Rights Movement. Today, Prince Hall Freemasonry is the oldest African American fraternal organization, with an estimated 300,000 members in 4,500 lodges world-wide.