Freemasons For Dummies: Mississippi To Vote on Prince Hall Recognition in March

Wednesday, December 10, 2025

Mississippi To Vote on Prince Hall Recognition in March

by Christopher Hodapp

UPDATE: This story has been updated to correct an error concerning the history of the MW Stringer GL of Mississippi. Deepest apologies for sloppiness on my part. CH

The Grand Lodge of Mississippi F&AM has a resolution to be voted upon at their next annual communication to jointly recognize the Most Worshipful Stringer Grand Lodge of Mississippi (Prince Hall Affiliated). The resolution is being circulated on social media this week.

I believe their annual meeting is in March 2026.

Prince Hall lodges first appeared in Mississippi in 1867, and the curiously named Stringer Grand Lodge of Mississippi was formed in 1875. It is a regular Prince Hall Affiliated organization that is recognized by the Conference of Grand Masters of Prince Hall Masons. Named to honor founding Grand Master Thomas Stringer (1875-93), they haven't followed the typical naming convention of most Prince Hall Affiliated Grand Lodges in order to retrain their historic connection to him.

If joint recognition eventually occurs in Mississippi (it will also have to be adopted by the Prince Hall Masons there), that will leave just Arkansas and South Carolina as the only so-called mainstream grand lodges in the U.S. with no Prince Hall recognition at all.

(The two footnotes on the map below are for Louisiana and West Virginia. The Grand Lodge of Louisiana has joint recognition with the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Maryland, because of internal issues with the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Louisiana and its longstanding grand master Ralph Slaughter. The Grand Lodge of West Virginia has joint recognition with the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Tennessee reportedly because the Prince Hall Masons in West Virginia rejected their initial overtures.)

3 comments:

Bill AchbachThu Dec 11, 03:16:00 PM 2025
Is the situation in WV the only case in which joint recognition has failed due to the Prince Hall GL not accepting the offer of amity? The usual standard of the "junior" grand body having to petition the "senior" puts the process, within a state, technically at the mercy of the initiative of the Prince Hall GL. I can see where this might be seen as something of an afront to the PHA GL.
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Michael SeguiFri Dec 12, 11:08:00 AM 2025
About time.
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AnonymousSat Dec 13, 10:24:00 AM 2025
The Grand Lodge of Louisiana also recognized the PHA Tennessee Grand Lodge.
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Freemasonry is the largest, oldest and best-known gentleman's fraternity in the world. Historically, it is based on the Medieval stonemason guilds who built the great castles and cathedrals of Europe. Mythologically it is founded upon the building of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, as told in the Old Testament of the Bible.

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