 |
| Photo: WGBH |
by Christopher HodappTHIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED ON JUNE 25, 2025 AT 1:00PM
On Memorial Day, the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts celebrated a true milestone for their unique branch of the fraternity of Freemasonry, marking the traditional 250th anniversary of the raising of Prince Hall and 14 other free black men as Masons in Boston. The Boston Memorial Day event saw a large procession to Copp's Hill burial ground, led by Grand Master Justin A. Petty, where a striking monument to WB Hall stands today.
The long-standing story goes that, back in March 1775, Hall and his brethren were initiated by an Irish military lodge of Masons in the British Army just before the American Revolution broke out.* At the time, Boston's established lodges wouldn’t admit them. So after the war ended, Hall took matters into his own hands and got a proper charter from England in 1784 to start African Lodge No. 459. From that beginning, what became known first as 'African,' then Prince Hall, Freemasonry spread across the country, peaking nationwide in the 1960s with 310,000 members in 5,100 lodges.
Early Prince Hall Masons pushed hard for abolition, education, and community uplift, sponsoring schools, signing petitions, providing for impoverished families, offering scholarships, and more. Arguably, they became as important and influential within their communities as the black churches, frequently cooperating on countless programs.
Their downtown temples and grand lodge buildings often became important office hubs for black professionals like doctors, dentists and attorneys. During the 1950s and 60s, these places often were home to the headquarters of civil rights organizations. Within the rolls of Prince Hall Grand Lodges you'll find politicians, educators, entertainers, sports figures, community leaders and businessmen.
So, for Prince Hall Freemasonry to grow, thrive and survive for 250 years as the nation's oldest black fraternal organization is a very big deal.
Today, Prince Hall Affiliated Freemasonry shares recognition with so-called 'mainstream' grand lodges in all but four states in the U.S.: Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina and West Virginia.
WBGH in Boston has a long article about Hall and the festivities that day HERE:
In 1775, Boston’s Prince Hall broke Freemasonry’s racial barrier. His global movement marches on.
* I say "the longstanding story" for a reason. Several years ago, researcher John Hairston (a Prince Hall Mason in Washington state) published Landmarks of our Fathers: The Critical Analysis of the Start and Origin of African Lodge No. 1 in which he painstakingly looked into the existing evidence of the formation of African Lodge. What he found alters the dates of the degrees of Hall and his 14 brethren to 1778, after the Revolution was already underway, and shows that the Irish military lodge had nothing to do with the event. Former sergeant John Batt, who conferred their degrees, was a dicey character who had left the British Army and may very well have been a degree peddler who took advantage of the situation and duped the black men into thinking he had authority he didn't possess. None of that alters the ultimate legitimacy of African Lodge once it received its English charter, and certainly has no bearing on the long heritage of Prince Hall Freemasonry, but calling into question anything about their founding risks the slaughter of sacred cattle. The 1775 date was loudly defended for more than 150 years as white Masons refused to accept the Prince Hall/African Lodge story as legitimate and would use any excuse or deviation from the original story to attack them. There's probably no harm in the general acceptance of the 1775 story when it comes to legendary heritage. Nevertheless, Brother Hairston's evidence should not be ignored or discounted by serious researchers and historians.
.jpg)
