Atlanta's Historic Prince Hall Temple Reopens After $14 Million Renovation

Photo: W.C. Thomas Lodge 112 Facebook Page

by Christopher Hodapp

The Atlanta Prince Hall Masonic Temple, a center of African American Freemasonry and civil rights history, just reopened on February 11th after a whopping $14 million renovation.

The Atlanta temple was built between 1937 and 1941 under the guidance of John Wesley Dobbs, a powerhouse civic leader who was basically the unofficial mayor of Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn neighborhood. Dobbs was elected Grand Master of the MW Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Georgia in 1932, and re-elected annually until his death in 1961. This place wasn't just a lodge hall; it was a buzzing hub for black enterprise and activism.

In its heyday, the building housed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) starting in 1957—their very first headquarters. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had his only known office there, a windowless little spot where he plotted strategy and dreamed big. The National Parks Service has made the Temple part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park, and, using photos of King's office as a guide, will eventually restore the room to appear as it did in the 1960s.

Upstairs, you'd find WERD-AM 860, the nation's first black-owned radio station, where DJs like "Jockey Jack" Gibson spun records and dropped civil rights updates. And there was Madam C.J. Walker's Beauty Shoppe—an enterprise of America's first self-made female millionaire (whose company was based in my own hometown of Indianapolis). During the 1960s, when segregation battles made safe gathering spots scarce, this temple was where black leaders could meet without looking over their shoulders. Legends say King even did radio interviews by dangling a phone out the window to the station below. 

The restored ballroom

But like so many historic gems, the temple fell on hard times as Sweet Auburn faced disinvestment and urban decay. It landed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's "11 Most Endangered Places" list back in the '90s, and by the 2010s, it needed serious attention. Enter a powerhouse partnership: The Trust for Public Land teamed up with the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Georgia, Invest Atlanta, the National Park Service, and generous donors like the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and the Georgia Pacific Foundation. Starting in 2022, they poured in the cash—$10 million for the core reno, plus a fresh $1.4 million grant from billionaire philanthropist Robert Smith to jazz it up with immersive exhibits.

A newly renovated social room for the lodges.
Photo: W.C. Thomas Lodge 112 Facebook Page 

The result is a 16,000-square-foot space that's been lovingly restored to blend old-school charm with modern flair. They matched paint colors to vintage photos, reinstalled the iconic WERD sign, replaced its deteriorated green window frames, and restored the neon Prince Hall Masons sign out front to beckon visitors. The Masons get to keep the top floor for their meetings and events. The rest is now primed for public tours, education, and interpretation as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park, which it officially joined in 2018. With over a million visitors flocking to the park each year, this addition is set to shine a light on the intertwined stories of Freemasonry, civil rights, and black community resilience.

Photo: W.C. Thomas Lodge 112 Facebook Page 

At the ribbon-cutting, heavy hitters like Prince Hall Grand Master Primus James, Invest Atlanta CEO Dr. Eloisa Klementich. Atlanta historian Reverend Dr. Herman “Skip” Mason, Dr. Kevin James, President of Morris Brown College and Arthur Clement, who is one of PGM John Wesley Dobbs’ grandsons, were there. And Martin Luther King III and Park Superintendent Reggie Chapple both weighed in on why this matters. King III put it best: Preserving places like this helps "institutionalize the dream" of his parents and avoid repeating history's mistakes.

Speaking of history’s mistakes, in a world where historic Masonic buildings all too often get sold off, bulldozed for parking lots, or just ignored to death and left to crumble (I'm looking at you, way too many jurisdictions), it's refreshing to see one get the royal treatment it deserves occasionally.

If you're in Atlanta or planning a Masonic road trip, add this to your list. It's not just a building—it's a testament to how Freemasonry has been a quiet force for progress, especially in communities that needed it most.

Maybe it'll inspire a few more lodges to dust off their own histories before we let them fade away.

(Thanks to Br. Dave Gillarm at the Prince Hall Think Tank podcast for alerting me on this story.)

Georgia's Solomon Lodge No. 1 Selling Their Historic Home

Photo: Chris Hodapp

by Christopher Hodapp

It was with great sadness I read this week that the landmark Cotton Exchange in downtown Savannah, Georgia is up for sale. Since 1976, it’s been the historic home of the equally historic Solomon’s Lodge No. 1, the oldest operating lodge in the state of Georgia, founded in 1734. Or as they say in their own history, “the oldest continuously operating English constituted lodge in the Western Hemisphere.” 

Photo: Chris Hodapp

The Old Savannah Cotton Exchange was designed by the Boston architect William Gibbons Preston (1844-1910), and completed in 1886. It’s now on the market for $10 million, and it’s likely to fetch that eye-popping pile of pelf, as it sits on the waterfront in Savannah’s most historic (and tourist-packed) area of an already very historic town.

The Savannah Morning News site had an extensive series of interior photos of the building and lodge room last Sunday, taken by photographer Richard Burkhart. Most residents in the area have never been inside of the old Cotton Exchange, much less a Masonic Lodge, so it’s been drawing a big crowd of curious readers eager to have a peek. Click images below to enlarge.

Photo: ©Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News

Photo: ©Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News

Photo: ©Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News

Photo: ©Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News

Photo: ©Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News

Photo: ©Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News

Photo: ©Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News

Past Master Jeremy Norton is quoted as saying their dwindling membership, combined with several "unfortunate incidents" has made the aging landmark too much of a financial burden for the lodge to handle, a familiar story that plays out with lodges all around the world every day. (I do know that a car crashed into the facade of the building back in 2008.) Listing agent David Mopper says potential buyers have already been lining up, as a potential restaurant, wedding venue, or private club. 

Yes, I realize that a lodge is not its building. Yes, I realize that a lodge can meet in a tent and doesn’t need some lavish old temple whose leaky roof and bad plumbing bleeds the treasury dry. Yes, I very much realize that the upkeep of an aging building - especially one that’s a historic landmark - is more often than not a fatiguing financial burden.

I don’t know the particulars as to why they’re moving, but I'm sure there's a clot of brethren in the lodge and around the state who are extremely unhappy about this development. No matter where Solomon’s Lodge moves, it can never equal what they have in their current location. You can’t buy the kind of heritage they are giving up, at any price.

In 1934, the lodge celebrated its 200th anniversary. To mark that event, Bro. Lafayette McLaws, Past Master of Solomon's Lodge, spoke some incredibly profound words. He said, 

“Age itself does not call for veneration, antiquity alone does not merit adoration, the passage of time is not the test of fame; a million years does not give glory to a worthless cause, nor sanctify an unholy name. It is the use of time, the purpose of the origin, the beauty woven in the design, the service written in the plan that builds monuments and creates hallowed shrines. I revere Solomon's not for its age, but for its progress, for the service that it has rendered mankind, for its uplifting influence in the political upheavals; for two centuries of activity in the interest of free thought, free speech and free conscience; for the continuity of its opposition to mental tyranny; its championship of human liberty. I commemorate the founding of Solomon's Lodge because it gave to the new Colony of Georgia, the institution of Masonry."

There is great wisdom in those nuggets of gold spoken by Bro. McLaws. On the one hand, the importance of Solomon’s Lodge is what it has accomplished since its founding in 1734, and, after all, its current home has only been their meeting place for 50 years. On the other hand, architectural treasures like the Old Cotton Exchange have incredible beauty woven in their design. And, given its prominence in Savannah's historic boardwalk area, it has been a standing billboard for Freemasonry for half a century, a magnificent beacon for all of us that says, “the Masons are here, and we are a vital piece of the fabric that makes our community.” Hundreds - and sometimes, thousands - of people walk past its historic marker and facade every single day.

I don’t know what Solomon's Lodge's plans are, but I pray they find an equally important and visible new location, and that they not settle for an anonymous steel pole barn in a bean field. (I will go out on a limb and speculate that they might move to the Savannah Valley of the Scottish Rite's new center, three miles from downtown, in an office park. Just a guess.) While the Masons of Savannah didn't build this particular edifice themselves, the fraternity gives up our most treasured temples to our collective detriment. Every high-visibility temple that gets sold off means we slip farther and farther off of society's radar screen and disappear from the collective consciousness of the community. And we rob our members of a heritage no lodge can reclaim when it just gives up. 

Our forefathers built or bought these priceless temples with the sweat of their brow, with money most of them desperately needed for themselves, because they believed in shouting about their fraternity to the world outside. (It took Savannah's Masons more than thirty years to complete their first historic Scottish Rite Temple as they raised money and slowly erected it.) They didn't ask us to be greater than they were, or to even build bigger or better than they did. They just asked us to protect what they did for us. 

Scottish Rite Valley of Savannah's new building (Photo: Google)

Inspiration was important to Freemasons up until the late 20th century. What will Masonic architecture of today inspire the next generations to say when you and I are gone? 

"Great parking!"

And are Masons really going to continue to accept mediocrity and bland steel toolshed temples under the lazy excuse that "a lodge is not a building?"

Where be our Dreamers now?

Georgia Lodge Selling Mini Iron Pans As Fundraiser

by Christopher Hodapp

Landrum Lodge 48 in Savannah, Georgia is partnering with the appropriately-named Lodge Cast Iron company to create the first-ever Masonic cast iron mini skillets.

As a fundraiser they are offering this unique set of three miniature cast iron skillets representing the three degrees of Freemasonry: the Entered Apprentice with the square, compass, sun & moon; the Fellowcraft with the square, compass, and two pillars; and the Master Mason with the square, compass, and sprigs of acacia. The set will come in a custom printed cardboard box fit for display. Crafted in South Pittsburg, Tennessee, these naturally seasoned mini pans are the perfect size for serving individual cookies or brownies. Seasoned and ready to use.

Price is US$99.99 for the set. Orders are shipped within 2-business days​

Click here to order.

​

UPDATES: Hurricane Helene Hits Six States

The 600-mile path of Hurricane Helene (Image: New York Times)

by Christopher HodappS
UPDATE TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2024: Over the last several days, the Masonic Service Association has issued separate Disaster Appeals on behalf of the grand lodges in Florida, North, and South Carolina. CLICK HERE to see that story.

UPDATE: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2024: Added appeal from North Carolina Masonic Foundation seeking donations. 

The path of destruction and devastation over the weekend from Hurricane Helene stretched 600 miles across six states. Thousands are without homes in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee, while deaths from the storm continue to rise – as many as 130 are reported dead as of 10:30 Monday night, according to the Associated Press.

Scores of communities all along the storm's path have been wiped out, and images from small, hard-to-reach Appalachian towns in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee look apocalyptic in scope. 

The Masonic Service Association has not yet issued any official disaster relief announcements for grand lodges in the affected states, but I will update this post as news specifically involving Masons and lodges in the hurricane areas become available.

Please send information to me directly at hodapp@aol.com .

FLORIDA

Gulf Beach Lodge 291 before the hurricane

Gulf Beach Lodge 291 in Madeira, Florida, near St. Petersburg, sustained extensive flood damage from the hurricane's unprecedented storm surge.

A photo on Facebook of the lodge's front door shows the flood rose to about 4-feet, and water damage to the secretary's office, kitchen, and dining room is extensive. Worshipful Master Bobby Burkett reports they will be meeting at Northside Lodge 283 until they are able to repair or rebuild their building.

NORTH CAROLINA

Western North Carolina has been badly hit by the storm, and images from Chimney Rock and Lake Lure near Asheville show almost unfathomable destruction. Entire towns have been swept away. The Grand Lodge of North Carolina's Masonic Foundation is accepting donations online specifically to help, aid, and assist Masons and their families in their state. The NCMF will be matching donations up to $25,000, so your money will go twice as far. When you go to their website at https://mfnc.org/ a pop-up window will open with information and a link to donate (or CLICK HERE if the popup doesn't work on your browser.)

SOUTH CAROLINA

MW Steven D. Hames, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge AF&AM of South Carolina has issued a blanket dispensation to all lodges in his jurisdiction permitting Worshipful Masters wide latitude to cancel or reschedule all meetings, including regular stated meetings. 

Ric Berman To Speak at Georgia's Atlanta-Peachtree Lodge June 19th

by Christopher Hodapp

At 7:30pm on June 19th, 2023, Atlanta-Peachtree Lodge No. 59 will host Worshipful Brother Dr. Ric Berman at an open event at the Atlanta Masonic Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Berman will be giving his presentation  "1723: Inventing the Future," which commemorates the 300th anniversary of 1723's Constitutions of the Free-Masons written by James Anderson.

A version of this presentation was previously given to over 1,600 brethren at a special meeting of the United Grand Lodge of England in January of this year, which UGLE's Pro Grand Master, Most Worshipful Brother Jonathan Spence, described as "a truly wonderful and extraordinary event."

Dr. Berman is one of the most exciting Masonic historians of our time. He is a Past Master of Quatuor Coronati Lodge, No. 2076 (the Premier Lodge of Masonic Research), and was named as the United Grand Lodge of England's Prestonian Lecturer in 2016. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He received his PhD in History from the University of Exeter, and has written numerous books on Masonic history, including Loyalists & Malcontents: Freemasonry and Revolution in South Carolina and Georgia, and The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry.  His most recent book is the basis of this particular presentation, 1723: Inventing the Future.

This meeting in Atlanta should be a truly fascinating evening of Masonic history. Atlanta-Peachtree Lodge meets in the Atlanta Masonic Center, located at 1690 Peachtree Street NW. While attendance for this presentation is free, a registration form should be completed at this link.

Grand Lodge of Tennessee Expels Minister For Performing Gay Marriages

by Christopher Hodapp

A heterosexual 41 year-old Tennessee Mason, minister, and father of three has been expelled from the Grand Lodge of Tennessee for violating their rule that forbids, in part, "promoting homosexuality."

Worshipful Brother Tag Thompson (photo above) was expelled in March after a Grand Lodge trial commission found him guilty of "promoting homosexuality," based on a Facebook post from last October in which he offered his services as a minister to gay couples seeking a celebrant for their marriage ceremonies.

A quite lengthy article about this incident appeared on May 14th on the Chattanooga Times Free Press website by reporter Wyatt Massey, which is where I'm drawing much of this information. Unfortunately, the article is hidden behind a paywall, so I will only excerpt parts of it here. However, the Pressreader website does have the text of the story HERE.

Back on October 27, 2020, Thompson posted the following message on his Facebook page:

 "I have LGBTQ+ friends who are worried about being able to marry in the future. If that is you, know that I am a licensed and ordained minister. No matter what happens I will be your officiant if you need me. #theycantmakethatcall."

The Grand Lodge of Tennessee's code, Sec. 4.2105 (27), specifically states that it is a Masonic offense to "To engage in lewd conduct. To promote or engage in homosexual activity. To cohabit immorally in a situation without the benefit of marriage." That Tennessee rule has been in place for more than 35 years, and has been upheld and reaffirmed by the voting members of Grand Lodge several times, in spite of attempts to amend or remove it.

(Just as a matter of idle curiosity, one can't help but wonder if the last part of Tennessee's rule declaring unmarried cohabitation to be a Masonic offense has ever been used in the last decade or two to expel any heterosexual members for living with their ladies, unfettered by a marriage license. But I digress.)

Tag Thompson joined the fraternity in 2015 and served as Worshipful Master of Chattanooga Lodge 199 in 2018. The charges against him were not brought by anyone in his own lodge. They were actually brought by Brother David Bacon, a Mason from a lodge in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee (presumably Soddy Lodge 418).

WB Thompson was not accused of being gay himself, but of promoting homosexuality through his position as a minister. Massey's article describes his background:

Thompson, the son of missionaries, spent most of his childhood in Central America before returning to the Chattanooga area to study at Tennessee Temple University and Bryan College. He was ordained in the Southern Baptist Convention, he said, and worked as a pastoral intern at Stuart Heights Baptist Church in 2004. 

Doing mission work in South Africa as a young adult changed the way he felt about the place for the LGBTQ community in the Christian faith. He moved away from the baptists and more toward the non-denominational house church movement, in which parishioners gather to worship in private homes. He is now the lead minister for the Tapestry, a local non-creedal community that does not espouse a central set of beliefs.

According to the Massey article, Chattanooga Lodge members supported him and originally considered conducting a lodge trial on their own friendly ground. But Thompson and his local brethren decided to opt for a Grand Lodge Trial Commission instead. They wanted, in part, to determine whether or not Tennessee's current leadership would firmly stand by their rule, or soften their stance, based on the widespread international Masonic condemnation over this same rule seven years ago.

From the article:

Thompson's trial was a closed-door affair, like many aspects of Freemasonry. He appeared in a Dayton lodge on Feb. 27, 2021, before a three-man panel of other Tennessee Masons, according to records from the process.

Similar to a judicial trial, Thompson had a Masonic lawyer, and so did the plaintiff. The affair lasted around four hours, Thompson said, though he sensed the outcome early on.

"Honestly, the trial was over before it started," he said.

Thompson chose not to testify.

Steven C. Bullock, history professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts and author of "Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order," said the Masons have a history of finding common ground between men of conlficting religions or those facing other divides, something that is hard to achieve when members — even from neighboring lodges — start policing each other's differences.

"The idea of bringing people together, of connecting and people being brothers, regardless of who they are, it's kind of, it's kind of a part of the American tradition too," Bullock said by phone. "The key foundations of Masonry are creating some sort of sense of brotherhood, of inclusiveness, of family between people who are otherwise distant from each other and different from each other. And that's been the long, long history of the fraternity, right from the beginning.

"Now you have this kind of just trying to circle the wagons, which is just a very difficult kind of thing," Bullock said. "Not very healthy."

Bullock said it's significant the grand lodge handled the matter because the traditional role of the grand lodge is "to keep peace within the community, and wanting to keep growing and expanding and bringing people in."

[snip]

On March 15, 2021, Thompson received a letter from the state's grand secretary containing the verdict: "The defendant, Brother Thompson, was found guilty of the charges and we received the sentence of expulsion," the letter read. "... The member is not eligible for restoration."

"Every close friend that I had, every close male friend that I had in the world at that point was a Mason. I mean, it's who I hang out with. I mean, it's a brotherhood, so I was incredibly close to these people," Thompson said. "And when you're expelled from Freemasonry, you're basically out. So I lost all of those friendships. Every single one of them. I haven't seen any of those people in, I'm not sure. Well, since that day."

Thompson now hopes the story of his expulsion will motivate more Tennessee Masons to remove the rule from their code.

Non-Masons should understand that there is no single national or international governing body for Freemasonry. In the US, the states have their own governing grand lodges that are sovereign within their territory. Outside of the US, most countries do have their own national grand lodges that make their rules and issue lodge charters. But American grand lodges all are able to make rules that suit their memberships' standards, as long as they agree to follow certain basic standards of practices, requirements and conduct (i.e. admitting men of good character who must affirm a personal belief in God, a Supreme Being, or other higher power; lodge work conducted with an open Bible, Tanach (the Hebrew scripture), Koran or other Volume of Sacred Law deemed holy by their members; conferring only the degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason; no discussion of religion, politics or business in meetings; adherence to the "Ancient Landmarks" of the fraternity as compiled in James Anderson's Constitutions of the Free-Masons, first published in England in 1723).

Now that Thompson has taken his story to the press, it may turn into another public hornet's nest like the one in 2015. The expulsion that year of two married Tennessee Masons set off a year's worth of national and international protests from individual Masons and grand lodges. David Clark and Mark Henderson had both been active and enthusiastic Tennessee Masons in their lodge for many years. When they first petitioned for membership, members of their lodge had investigated both men by visiting the home they shared together, and made no objection to their relationship. After the Supreme Court's landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision that legally permitted gay marriage was rendered, the men married, with many members of the lodge attending. But after Clark publicly posted photos from their wedding on Facebook, some Tennessee Masons were outraged by what they saw as deliberate flouting of their Grand Lodge's rules, and successfully brought charges against them. Both men were expelled from the fraternity.

That story eventually hit the local papers, TV stations, Chattanooga National Public Radio, and eventually the national news. It remains to be seen if the press and the Masonic community will react similarly to Thompson's story.

In the U.S. apart from Tennessee, it should be noted that only the Grand Lodge of Georgia has a similar ban on homosexuals as part of their official code. Georgia's began as an edict issued in 2015 by then-Grand Master Douglas McDonald on the heels of the Supreme Court's landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision that gave constitutional guarantees for gay marriages. McDonald's edict was made part of Georgia's code by the assembled voting members of the Grand Lodge in 2016. (McDonald ultimately resigned from Freemasonry in 2019 for "religious reasons.")

Masonic responses to the 2015 Tennessee story became something of an avalanche. Grand Lodges of the District of Columbia, California, New York, Belgium, France, the Netherlands all withdrew recognition of Tennessee (as well as Georgia, in some cases) over the no-homosexual policies. Countless other grand lodges and grand masters around the world issued impassioned statements in 2015-16 strongly condemning such rules at that time. A 2016 attempt to insert a similar ban on homosexuals in the Grand Lodge of Mississippi failed — that proposed resolution didn't even have enough support to be sent to the jurisprudence committee for consideration. An even earlier homosexual ban was proposed back in 2010 in the Grand Lodge of Kentucky. It also failed overwhelmingly.

NOTE: There is one item in the article that I need to clarify on a personal note. 

Massey's article featured a direct quote from one of my blog posts back in 2015 when the stories in Tennessee and Georgia were erupting. However, he paraphrased something I apparently said at the time, and his summary was not at all correct. Here are the pertinent paragraphs:

The news caused a stir in Masonic lodges across the country, and in other parts of the world. The news drew rebuke from grand lodges in Maine, Washington D.C., California and Belgium. Many grand lodges do not have laws banning gay members, although Georgia's in 2015 prohibited homosexuality in its ranks. In 2010, Kentucky's grand lodge voted down a proposal to create such a rule.

After the Tennessee vote, Chris Hodapp, an Indiana Mason and a prominent writer on the brotherhood, wrote on his Freemasons for Dummies blog that many religions affirm homosexuality and that the prioritizing of one religion's tenets goes against the nature of Freemasonry.

The organization was designed to bring people together, Hodapp wrote.

"In your own Masonic career, you have undoubtedly made friends with men you otherwise would never have met, never socialized with, never sat in church with, never have given a second thought to," he wrote, in the March 25, 2016, post. "That is what makes this fraternity unlike any other. But I have heard from dozens of good Masons who have given much of their time and treasure to it, who are now leaving because we have failed to live up to the promises we made to them when they joined."

To my recollection I did NOT say that "many religions affirm homosexuality." I can't seem to find where Massey got this idea. What I may have said at the time was that many denominations or individual churches affirm or welcome homosexuals as part of their congregations. Some mainstream churches, synagogues, temples, and even large national or international denominations have open homosexuals in their congregations, permit and perform gay marriages, and allow gay members to join their clergy. But I certainly do not know of a large religious body or faith tradition that favorably "affirmed" or favorably mentioned homosexuality as part of their doctrine or scriptural origin, prior to the 20th and 21st centuries.

It should be noted that after about 2016, more and more grand lodges have established pretty strict rules about what can and can't be said openly on Facebook, Twitter, websites and other forms of social media. Thompson's story may not get the sort of attention that Clark and Henderson's 2015 expulsions did, in part because fewer Masons will circulate it because of stricter rules about discussing internal business and affairs in public.

A common part of the obligation all Masons agree to is not to "violate the chastity of another Mason's wife, his mother, sister or daughter, knowing them to be such." That's the sum total of Masonry's concern over what goes on under the blanket in a Mason's bed or in the back seat of a Subaru. The love lives and sexual activities involving two consenting adults are none of our collective business — as long as they do not violate the civil law, and are conducted with discretion, as all proper gentlemen should conduct everything in their lives. 

As for Masons who fret themselves sick over the very notion of sitting in a lodge room with a homosexual lurking along the sidelines, I can probably assure you that it is more than likely you've had gay brethren sitting in your lodge since the night of your Entered Apprentice degree. That's probably been true since the very beginning of the fraternity in 1717. It's none of your business, any more than it is the lodge's business that your particular interest may be to sleep with a seven-foot-tall, one-eyed, Episcopalian kangaroo.

Read the entire article HERE.

Georgia Grand Masters to Sign Treaty of Amity Saturday

by Christopher Hodapp

The Grand Lodge of Georgia F&AM and the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge F&AM of Georgia will hold a joint public presentation this Saturday, April 9th to officially sign treaty of amity documents and cement their mutual recognition. 

Most Worshipful Grand Masters Donald C. Combs of the GL of Georgia and Corey D. Shackleford of the MW Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Georgia will jointly preside.

The voting members of the MW Grand Lodge of Georgia voted in favor of accepting the Prince Hall Grand Lodge's request at their annual communication in October 2021.

The event will be held at 1:00PM at the Sandy Spring Performing Art Center, 1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs, GA. 

Unfortunately, reservations for the event filled very quickly, capacity of the venue has been reached, and they can no longer accept any more requests to attend.

From the Grand Lodge of Georgia's official Facebook page:

As you are aware, the Grand Lodge of Georgia, during the 2021 session, voted to extend recognition to the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Georgia. To reiterate, this does not allow for visitation or cross-membership - it is recognizing the Prince Hall Grand Lodge masons as masons and brothers in the craft. This does not impact constituent lodge activities.

To commemorate the recognition, the two Grand Lodges will be having a formal treaty signing ceremony on Saturday, April 9, 2022, at 1:00 PM at the Sandy Spring Performing Arts Center. The doors will open at 11:30 AM.

For more information about the event and the history of the two grand lodges, visit the

website at: http://133rdpsalms.com

GM of Georgia Issues Edict Banning Widows Sons Motorcycle Riders

by Christopher Hodapp

The Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Georgia F&AM, Donald C. Combs, has just issued an edict in his state (No. 2022-2) forbidding the Freemasons in his jurisdiction from belonging to the Widows Sons International Masonic motorcycle riders association. Georgia Masons who do not comply by dropping their WS membership risk expulsion from the fraternity. Further, the edict orders ALL Masonic-related motorcycle clubs and associations in Georgia to disband, with the exception of motorcycle clubs affiliated with the Shrine. (Click images below to enlarge.)

This is not the first time this has happened in the U.S.

Back in 1998, a group of Masons who shared a love of motorcycles organized the first chapter of the Widow’s Sons Masonic motorcycle riders club, led by Brother Carl Davenport out of Chicago, Illinois. Open to all Master Masons, the goal of the Widows Sons was (and is) to promote motorcycle riding among Masons, and to promote Masonic membership among the general public. They regularly support and contribute to Masonic programs that help widows and orphans of Brother Masons. But almost from the outset, there was a cohort of Masons who strongly objected to the public image of the Widow’s Sons, and criticized the group’s first logo design, patches and leather vests as looking entirely too much like an unsavory outlaw motorcycle gang. 

Original logo for the Widows Sons included a sultry, red leather-clad 'Widow.'

(Image from Hiram's Knights website)

Their early vests often featured a Masonic square and compass, and a common objection was that Masonic symbols would be seen in bars on brethren who may not be able to subdue their passions. It was especially objected to in states where a grand lodge forbade Masons from serving and consuming alcohol at lodge functions. And their earliest logo featured a sultry 'widow' dressed in red leathers looking entirely too MILF-like. By the early 2000s, several grand masters around the U.S. issued decisions and edicts against the group, and in more than a few cases, ordered the groups to completely shut down, threatening expulsion for Masons who defied these orders. Other states forbade the wearing of Widows Sons signature leather vests in Craft lodge meetings.

(See Grand Master of Texas Edict: Widow's Sons Motorcycle Group from 2011; I don’t believe that anything has changed in Texas since then concerning Masonic biker groups.)

Photo: widowssonsinternational.com

Unfortunately, Masonic motorcycle associations have always - and continue to attract - extra scrutiny from critics and more than a few grand masters. Motorcycle-riding GMs in general have no issues with them, but plenty of other GMs find them problematic, asserting that motorcycle clubs of any kind attract an unsavory sort of man and are antithetical to the upstanding image that Freemasons have historically cultivated. There are also allegations that the state grand chapters of the Widows Sons set themselves up as a conflict of interest with grand lodges.

Over the last couple of hundred years or so, enthusiastic Masons have often sought to form special interest clubs or groups with like-minded brethren based on their professions, hobbies, or obsessions. There are Masonic veterans’ groups (National Sojourners), fishing clubs, gun clubs (like Hiram's Rangers Western action shooters club), stamp-collecting groups (Masonic Philatelic Club), RV owners (National Camping Travelers ), Masonic luncheon groups (like High Twelve International), and lots more. The most obvious manifestation of this phenomenon can be seen in the Shrine. Upon joining a local Shriners temple, new members are often encouraged to join and participate in a specific affinity group like the clowns, Masonic or Shriner degree teams, little car drivers, classic car enthusiasts, model railroad clubs, boat owners, private plane pilots (the “Flying Fezes”), and often one of the most popular, motorcycle riders. 

Other states have managed over the years to hammer out agreements between their grand lodges and the Widows Sons, so hopefully this will be a brief incident.

UPDATED 1/27/2022 9:00PM

A closer reading of the edict gives a better sense of what it is attempting to address. From his edict I took away that the GL of GA must officially recognize or authorize any group calling itself ‘Masonic,’ and that the entire collection of clubs being disbanded or forbidden never bothered to officially get those approvals. I believe he’s saying, ‘Clean up your act, decide if you want to be Masonic, and apply for approval with the proper committee. Let’s do this right instead of ignoring the GA code and procedures.’

UPDATED: GL of Georgia Votes For Prince Hall Recognition

by Christopher Hodapp

(THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED OCTOBER 27, 2021 6:37AM TO ADD DOCUMENTATION AND VISITATION RESTRICTIONS)

I've had three different sources attending the Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Georgia F&AM today inform me that the assembled brethren voted overwhelmingly to officially extend recognition to the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of the Jurisdiction of Georgia. The recommendation was made by the Committee on Recognition, there was no discussion, and the proposed recognition passed "by a landslide."

Still too early yet for many details beyond the recommendation and the vote. However, a couple of documents leading to the vote contain a couple of curious items.

Below is the request for amity/recognition sent to the Grand Lodge last December by Prince Hall GL of Georgia's Grand Master, MW Corey D. Shackleford. My apologies for the fuzzy quality of images. Click them to enlarge:

GM Shackleford states in his letter that their goal is to achieve formal acknowledgement of each other's organization as legitimate, "but to maintain our separate existence." The request included the following "safeguards for both institutions":

1. There shall be no visitation at the subordinate lodge level unless authorized by both Grand Masters;
2. The amity/recognition agreement shall never constitute future merger;
3. There shall be no instance of demitting to the other Jurisdiction, and;
4. If approved and ratified by the GLGA, this request shall not be amended nor revisited within five (5) years of the date of acceptance from the GLGA.

In essence, the request seems to simply be that the MWPHGL of GA just doesn't want to be called clandestine or irregular anymore, but not much else. And, as is often the case, they seem very concerned that the big fish might eventually swallow up the littler fish if the Prince Hall brethren get to visit the mainstream lodges. 

Or as the old World War I song went, "How are you gonna keep them down on the farm once they've seen gay Paree?"

When the Grand Lodge of Georgia's Commission on Recognition took up the Prince Hall GL request, they added a couple of changes to that list of "safeguards" that are even a little more restrictive:

To wit:

1. Remove the line "unless authorized by both Grand Masters" so it now reads, "There shall be no visitation at the subordinate lodge level."
2. Change the time limit that prevents future amending or revising the agreement from the proposed five year period to ten years.

Now, nobody has ever been reckless enough to stick me on a Jurisprudence Committee, but my albeit flawed understanding has always been that the assembled grand lodge voting members cannot legally prevent action being taken by a succeeding grand lodge for any period of time in the future. That's possibly a jurisdictional difference, but I'd be shocked if that really turned out to be backed up by either of the two Georgia grand lodge constitutions. You can't insist that future grand lodge members can't ever pass new legislation - or you can't enforce it, anyway. It's like a dying man trying to discipline his unborn grandkids by drawing up an odious will. He might feel victorious when he signs it, but once he's dead, he can't prevent them from installing a urinal and a dance floor over his grave once he joins the Choir Invisible. "The Grand Lodge" officially ceases to be when the gavel falls at the annual communication, and does not exist again until the opening gavel of the next year's meeting. The rest of the year, the Grand Lodge is invested in the Grand Master.

(Paging Glenn Cook...) 

In fairness, these types of limitations forbidding visitations between mainstream and Prince Hall Grand Lodge members for a fixed "cooling off" period have been more common in recent years, and are almost always requested by the Prince Hall Masons, not vice versa. The approach is to get everybody's members comfortable with the joint recognition idea and hopefully weed out the truly hardcore critics on both sides who would rather curl up and die than let "one of those guys" visit his lodge. After all - after telling your members for 150 years that the other grand lodge in your state is clandestine and irregular, you're going to have members who aren't exactly going to wake up tomorrow morning singing the Rainbow Bright Unicorn song when you announce that everything has changed now. 

What seems to be turning into a pattern is that these limitations are agreed to, everybody finds out that Masons are all pretty decent folks in both organizations after all, and the imagined horrible incidents everybody was afraid of don't materialize. The truly offensive naysayers stay home or demit, or at least learn to hold their wagging tongues. And usually within two or three years, the ban on visitations get lifted.

As I wrote many years ago, getting a grand lodge to change is like steering an aircraft carrier: they're slow to change course, hard to steer, and take forever if you want to stop them. 

Nevertheless, the baby step has been taken, and the brethren of Georgia's two legitimate grand lodges are to be commended at last. 

And then there were five...

John Lewis Funeral Brings Georgia's Grand Lodges Together

by Christopher Hodapp

(UPDATE 8:38PM 7/30/20: An earlier version of this story erroneously said Oscar Alleyne, the Senior Grand Warden of New York was in attendance. He was not. I regret the error.)

There is a post-script to Wednesday's Masonic funeral service for U.S. Congressman John Lewis in Atlanta. Before the service began, the brethren filed in, and Prince Hall Grand Master Corey D. Shackleford introduced the honored Masonic visitors. In addition to the large number of Masons from the MW Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Georgia, there was the Grand Master of the MWPHGL of Tennessee L. Lamont Banks. 

And representing the Grand Lodge of Georgia F&AM were Most Worshipful Grand Master Johnie M. Garmon, Senior Grand Warden Donald C. Combs, and Grand Tyler William T. White. 

In the Scottish Rite, the motto and message of the 14th degree is "Virtus Junxit Mors Non Separabit - Whom Virtue Unites, Death Cannot Separate." My Latin is truly miserable, so I'll leave it to others to adequately recaption this story as "Death Unites Masons Who Have Otherwise Remained Separated." 

Let us all hope that this brief moment of unity and brotherhood is only the first opportunity for Georgia's brethren to explore greater cooperation and eventual recognition, and not just a momentary, fleeting contact never to be repeated. If recognition came from the the seeds planted at this particular funeral, there would be a certain symmetrical, symbolic properness to it.

Photo: Atlanta Journal Constitution

If you have a Facebook account, you can see the video of the Masonic service HERE.

(My apologies for not knowing who the original source was for these photographs - I assembled them from various Facebook posts today. Let me know and I will properly credit them. And yes, everyone properly wore their masks for the service, only removing them for the photos.)

UPDATE 7/31/20: 

The Atlanta Journal Constitution website features a short interview with Grand Master Shackleford HERE.