Origin of Prince Hall Masonry
Prince Hall 1738-1807
By Dr. Charles Harris Wesley,
PhD.
Renowned Scholar, Lecturer,
Educator, Author and Historian
Prince Hall, our founder, was one of
our greatest Americans, a Worthy Grand Master associated with our first
Grand Lodge and its expansion. His name is carried and borne by
our Masonic organizations in the United States, and thousands of Masons,
who regard themselves as descendants from the Grand Lodge of England
from which he received his authority more than two centuries ago. We
in America celebrated in 1976 the two hundredth anniversary of our
Declaration of Independence. This is also the two hundred and
first (201st) anniversary of the founding of Prince Hall Masonry. It
is a monument to Prince Hall's life, career and leadership.
Many rumors of the birth of Prince
Hall have arisen. Few records and papers have been found of him
either in Barbados where it was rumored that he was born, but no record
of birth, by church or state, has been found there, and none in Boston.
All 11 of the counties were searched and churches with baptismal
records were examined without a find of the name of Prince Hall. The
first record which we have of Prince Hall is a manumission paper filed
by William Hall of Boston, and found in the Boston Athenaeum.
This document tells us:
"Prince Hall has lived with
us 21 years and served us well upon all occasions, for which reasons we
maturely give him his freedom and that he is no longer to be reckoned a
slave, but has been always accounted as a freeman by us, as he has
served us faithfully. Upon that account we have given him his
freedom. As witness our hands this ninth day of April, 1770.
Witnesses:
Susannah Hall
William Hall
Elizabeth Hall
Margaret Hall
Boston 12 April 1770 recorded Boston Athenaeum.
In appearance our Prince Hall was
unlike the portrait which has been used of him, which was near to a
white man in appearance. William Bentley of Salem, Massachusetts,
once described him at a Turtle Feast in Salem, Massachusetts as,
"An African and a person of great influence among his color in
great Boston, being Master of the African Lodge and a person
to whom they refer with confidence their principal affairs." Another,
William F. Haywood in his Minutemen and Mariners described another
Turtle Feast, "There was one outstanding expert: Prince Hall,
a tall, lean Negro of great dignity. He always did, for whenever a
well-to-do person wished the best catering job in eastern Massachusetts
he sent word to Prince Hall in Boston, and when the time came he
appeared with a dozen of his black men or two dozen if the banquet was a
large one." This author described how "four of Prince
Hall's Africans stepped smartly into the tent bearing on their shoulders
the great turtle shell filled with a pie to the delight of the
guests." These descriptions make Prince Hall as an African
with an African crew. He seemed to be a black man among black men
or he would have been pointed out, if otherwise.
A significant event in Masonry on
March 6, 1775, Prince Hall and fourteen other men were initiated in
Masonry through Warrant No.
459, which is still in our possession.
John Blatt, who was of the 38th Foot Regiment of the British Army
having enlisted in 1759 and learning of the American cause re-enlisted
in its Army. The enlistees were Prince Hall, Cyrus Johnson,
Bueston Slinger, Prince Rees, John Canton, Peter Freeman, Benjamin Tiler,
Duff Ruform, Thomas Santerson, Prince Rayden, Cato Speain, Boston Smith,
Peter Best, Forten Howard and Richard Titley. The writer had this
record. A Permit was issued for these Masons to meet as African
Lodge No. 1 and they became the first Black Masons in the United States.
Prince Hall enlisted and served as a soldier in the 2nd and 6th
Regiments of Massachusetts. In this connection, George W.
Williams, historian, wrote in 1884, "that he saw hard service we
know by the record of the two regiments he served in, always
distinguished for steadiness and valor. Prince Hall was not only a
good soldier, he was a statesman."
As the years passed, Prince Hall
decided to approach England again, the war being over in 1783. On
March 2, 1784, he wrote a letter to William Moody, Worshipful Master of
Brotherly Love Lodge No. 55 in London, England, stating that African
Lodge had been in operation for eight years and they had only "a
Permit to walk on St. John's Day and to bury their dead in manner and
form" and he thought it "best to send to the Fountains from
whence he received the Light for a Warrant." This Warrant or
Charter was prepared but not sent. Three years passed then the
cost of it had not been received in London. It seems that Prince
Hall had sent it but it had not been delivered. Finally, he was
careful in selecting his messengers and asked Captain James Scott,
brother-in-law of Governor John Hancock of Massachusetts, a signer of
the Declaration of Independence. Captain Scott delivered
the letter, the money and received the Charter Warrant. Prince
Hall acknowledged this receipt and added in his letter to England,
"By the grace of God, I shall endeavor to fulfill all that is
required of me in the Charter and I shall make the Constitution my
guide." He added, "I hope we can adorn our profession
as Masons." This Charter is in the possession of African
Lodge of Massachusetts and is kept under lock and key. Some of us
have seen it and treasure it for it is the only Charter in existence
from England, our source, available today to Masons. A recognition
of this fact was adopted in a report of a unanimous committee in 1946 of
the historic Northern Jurisdiction but it was delayed by another
committee's action, but it is worth noting:
"It is believed to be the
only original Charter issued from the Grand Lodge of England which is
now in the possession of any lodge in the United States."
Some white Masons say that Blacks
were not denied admission to white lodges and they point to the very few
and the presence of others by invitation as proofs. We believe
the contrary for D. Bentley, a contemporary who wrote in his diary,
available to all, "The truth is they are ashamed of being on
equality with blacks. Even the Fraternities of France, given to
merit without distinction of color do not influence Massachusetts masons
to give an embrace less enphactical or tender affectionate to their
Black Brethren . . It is evident that a preeminence is claimed by
whites."
The question of extending Masonry
arose when Absalom Jones of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania appeared in 1791
in Boston. He was an ordained Episcopal priest and a Mason who was
interested in establishing a Masonic Lodge in Philadelphia. In
1792 Black men came from Providence, Rhode Island to Boston to inquire
about Masonry. They attended to hear the charge by Prince Hall who
spoke of the presence of these men, "my dear brethren of
Providence, who are at a distance from and cannot attend the lodge but
seldom."
Masons in both places, made in
England or the West Indies or elsewhere came to Boston to see Prince
Hall and mentioned their cities as places for lodges. At a
subsequent assembly the African Grand Lodge was formed in 1791 by
delegations from Philadelphia, Providence and New York in an assembly
which was a Grand Lodge. Prince Hall regarded as Grand Master was
the source and remained in this capacity until his death. African
Lodge, in Philadelphia, and Hiram Lodge, in Providence, came under his
aegis in 1797. With growth and expansion the movement went West
and South.
Prince Hall died December 4, 1807.
His successor was Nero Prince who sailed to Russia in the year
1808, George Middleton succeeded him, 1808-1810, Peter Lew, Samuel H.
Moody and then the well known John T. Hilton who recommended a
Declaration of Independence from the English Grand Lodge in 1827, which
the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts had done in 1772 and assumed powers and
prerogatives as an Independent Grand Lodge.
Freedoms Journal, November 7,
1828, the first black newspaper, praised Prince Hall as "the
Founder of African Lodge of Boston", and for his "work for the
Grand Masonic Lodge." The heritage which Prince Hall left us
has authentic and factual goodness to us as Masons, and we go forward
distributed in 44 Grand Lodges, Eastern Star, two Supreme Councils,
Golden Circles, Shriners, Daughters of Isis, Brother and Sisters in the
United States, the West Indies, Canada, Liberia and West Africa, all
doing great work and spreading a good cause in Masonry. To all
these and those who read this, we say as Prince Hall said in 1797:
"Blessed be God, the Scene is
Changed! They now confess that God has no respect of persons, and
therefore receive them as friends and treat them as brothers. Thus
doth Ethiopia stretch forth her hand from slavery to freedom and
equality."
Charles H. Wesley
The above historic record was
prepared and published on March 20, 1981 in the First Edition of the
Prince Hall Masonic Directory upon a special request from the Conference
of Grand Masters, Prince Hall Masons. Dr. Wesley was an ordained
minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He was an
outstanding historian, educator and author. Dr. Wesley was a
Prince Hall Mason, a member of Hiram Lodge No. 4, Jurisdiction of the
District of Columbia. December 2, 1891 - August 16, 1987.
