A 1775 Re-Enactment Ceremony Honoring The First Black Masons in Boston

What do Richard Pryor, Sugar" Ray Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, Nelson Mandella, and Nat King Cole have in common? Besides being famous Black men, they all are members of The Prince Hall Masonic Order, the oldest and largest fraternal organization started by Prince Hall and fourteen other freed Black men in Boston, Massachusetts on March 6, 1775.The second bi-annual convention of African Lodge No. 459, under the auspices of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, Jurisdiction of Massachusetts will take place from April 23-25, 2004 and over 3,000 Prince Hall Masons are expected to attend from around the world.

Boston, MA (PRWEB) March 12, 2004 --What do Richard Pryor, Sugar" Ray Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, Nelson Mandella, and Nat King Cole have in common? Besides being famous Black men, they all are members of The Prince Hall Masonic Order, the oldest and largest fraternal organization started by Prince Hall and fourteen other freed Black men in Boston, Massachusetts on March 6, 1775. The second bi-annual convention of African Lodge No. 459, under the auspices of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, Jurisdiction of Massachusetts will take place from April 23-25, 2004 and over 3,000 Prince Hall Masons are expected to attend from around the world.

Award-winning performer, producer and composer, and one of the architects of Rhythm and Blues, Jerry "The Iceman" Butler will participate in the ceremony and perform live at the Tremont Temple in Boston for the convention. Butler was recently elected Grand Master of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge, F&AM, Jurisdiction of Illinois and he is serving his third four-year term as Cook County Commissioner.

The convention will honor Black Freemasonry with a re-enactment raising" ceremony on Castle (William) Island. Black Freemasonry began when Prince Hall and fourteen other free black men were initiated into Lodge No. 441, Irish Constitution, attached to the 38th Regiment of Foot, British Army garrisoned at Castle William Island (now Castle Island) Boston Harbor on March 6, 1775. Prince Hall, one of Boston's most prominent citizens during the revolutionary period, was the founder of the African Lodge, the world's first lodge of black Freemasons and the first society in American history devoted to social, political, and economic improvement.

The ceremony will pay tribute to Prince Hall and the other very brave men who chose the route of Freemasonry to help their people and to have a legitimate vehicle by which to advance and enrich the lives of generations to follow. These original Masons will be represented by fifteen current and true Fellowcrafts from fifteen different Prince Hall Masonic jurisdictions. They and the other participants will be dressed in period costume from the 18th century. The other fourteen Black masons include Cyrus Forbes, Bristol Stenzer, Thomas Sanderson, Prince Taylor, Cato Gardner, Boston Smith, Peter Best, Fortune Howard, Prince Reed, John Carter, Peter Freeman, Benjamin Tyler, Cuff Bufform, and Richard Tilledge.

-The History of Prince Hall

The History of the Prince Hall Masons is exceptional and very interesting especially given the time in this country that the Lodge was founded. On March 6, 1775, Prince Hall and fourteen freed Black men were made Masons by Worshipful Master John Batt of Army Lodge No. 441 of the 38th regiment of foot of the British Army. The Army Lodge's Charter was under the Grand Lodge of Ireland Constitution. As a new Master Mason, Prince Hall petitioned membership in the Masonic Lodges, headed by colonists but all his petitions were rejected. When the British Army left Boston in 1776, this Lodge, No. 441, granted Prince Hall and his brethren authority to meet as African Lodge No. 1 (Under Dispensation), to go in procession on St. John's Day, and as a Lodge to bury their dead; but they could not confer degrees nor perform any other Masonic "work". For eight years these brethren, together with others who had received their degrees elsewhere, assembled and enjoyed their limited privileges as Masons.

Thirty-three masons were listed on the rolls of African LodgeNo.1 on January 14th, 1779. Finally on March 2, 1784, Prince Hall petitioned the Grand Lodge of England, through a Worshipful Master of a subordinate Lodge in London (William Moody of Brotherly Love Lodge No. 55) for a warrant or charter. On September 29, 1784 a charter was issued to the African Lodge, making it a regular lodge, with all the rights and privileges of any regular lodge in the world.

The Warrant to African Lodge No. 459 of Boston is the most significant and highly prized document known to the Prince Hall Masonic fraternity. It was delivered in Boston on April 29, 1787 by Captain James Scott, brother-in-law of John Hancock and master of the Neptune. African Lodge of Boston became the "Mother Lodge" of the Prince Hall Family.

All of this took place at a time in American History when it wasn't safe for Prince Hall and the fourteen other Black men to be speaking with, much less asking for favors of, the British. But it was also a time when free Black men very much needed a means by which to advance the cause of Black equality. Boston, Massachusetts was a major port for selling slaves in the North. Black Codes were enacted by all the colonies curtailing the movement of Blacks, both free and slave, especially after dark. Prince Hall looked to the Fraternal Order of Free and Accepted Masons because the chief purpose of Freemasonry is benevolence and charity to all mankind. Hall was convinced that Freemasonry's ideals for the betterment of man made it an ideal organization to advance the cause of Black equality in the colonies.

Today, the Prince Hall Masonic Order spans across all fifty United States of America as well as lodges in Canada, the West Indies, the Bahamas, Europe, and Asia. There are over 250,000 Prince Hall Masons worldwide, working in more than 5,000 lodges who can trace their roots to African Lodge No. 459 which, as the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, is located at 24 Washington Street, Dorchester, Massachusetts. For more information, call (617) 445-1145.