A Brief Overview of Prince Hall Masonry
Prince Hall Masonry refers to the majority African-American lodges found mostly in the US and Canada. All of the Prince Hall Affiliated (PHA) lodges around the world may trace their heritage to a single lodge in Boston, Massachusetts USA. African Lodge was founded by a free African-American named Prince Hall and fourteen other brethren. This single, small lodge started an impressive movement that now encompasses 47 PHA Grand Lodges in the US, Canada, Barbados, Bahamas and Liberia. These Grand Lodges represent 3500 lodges and over 200,000 members. PHA lodges may be found in over 20 countries including Thailand.
Not much is known about the man who started it all. It is thought that he may have been born in Africa, captured and sold to slavers at a young age, and brought to Boston. This could easily explain the lack of documentation on his early life. The oldest paperwork found on Bro. Hall is a document dated April 9, 1770 freeing him from slavery. After that, he eventually established himself in Boston as a tradesman.
Though the exact circumstances of Prince Hall’s entry into Masonry are lost, it is generally agreed that Hall and fourteen other men became Masons shortly before the outbreak of the American Revolution on March 6, 1775. They were initiated into Lodge #441, an Irish Constitution lodge attached to the British Army’s 38th Regiment of Foot in Boston.
When the British Army was driven out of Boston during the Revolution, Lodge #441 left with it. Prince Hall and his brethren were given the right to meet as a lodge, hold a procession on Saints John Day, perform Masonic funerals, but they were not allowed to work degrees. There is some confusion whether the permit granting these privileges was given by Lodge #441 or by the then Provincial Grand Master of North America (Grand Lodge of England, Moderns), Bro. John Rowe.
Regardless, for nine years they practiced their limited version of Masonry. After the Revolution, Bro. Hall petitioned the Grand Lodge of England (Moderns) for a charter on June 30, 1784. The warrant was granted on September 29, 1784 under the name African Lodge, #459. Communication however was a great problem back then and the warrant was only received two and a half years later. Prince Hall was installed as the first Master of the lodge on May 6, 1787. Newspaper accounts of the event are silent on how the lodge was consecrated and by whom.
That charter is still in existence and is thought to be the only original charter issued from the Grand Lodge of England still in possession by any lodge in the United States.
In 1797, African Lodge received requests to form new African lodges in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Providence, Rhode Island. This was soon done with the innovatively named African Lodge #459B in Philadelphia and Hiram Lodge #3 in Providence. This may seem strange to us now, but masonic jurisprudence was different then. The concept of grand lodges was still relatively new and the difficulty in communications and great distances led many American lodges to take the initiative of forming new lodges.
After a thorough investigation, UGLE issued a report on the regularity of PHA Grand Lodges. The report states:
“By the standards of today, the formation of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts was irregular. In the 18th Century, however, three Grand Lodges in North America were formed by not three but two Lodges, and the Grand Lodge of New Jersey was formed simply by a Grand Convention of Masons. By standards then prevailing, the formation of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts could have been seen as merely eccentric, and of acceptable regularity. Notwithstanding the unusual transformation of its original Lodge into a Grand Lodge, the philosophy and practice of Prince Hall Masonry today are of exemplary regularity. “
By the late 1790’s African Lodge #459 fell into arrears. Communication with Grand Lodge became sparse and infrequent as letters to Grand Lodge seem to have been ignored. In 1813 at the formation of the United Grand Lodge of England, African Lodge (as well as all other American lodges) was removed from the rolls. However, African Lodge continued to correspond with Grand Lodge in the hopes of reviving the relationship. A letter from Master, Samson H. Moody in 1824 requested a warrant or authority to “confer the other four degrees” of Masonry. It’s not clear whether they were referring to the Royal Arch or something else. There was no reply.
Finally on June 18, 1827 the Boston Advertiser published an article from African Lodge declaring themselves “free and independent of any lodge from this day.” Thus African Lodge had finally severed all ties to the UGLE, declaring itself African Grand Lodge.
The remaining thorn in the side of Prince Hall Masonry is recognition from the “mainstream” lodges around the world. Most Grand Lodges now consider Prince Hall masonry to be regular and deserving of recognition. There are 51 mainstream and 41 PHA Grand Lodges in the US. The Grand Lodges in each state have been discussing mutual recognition for years. The current method for recognition now is linked to whether or not the mainstream Grand Lodge in a particular US state recognizes its PHA equivalent in the same state.
In 1989, the Grand Lodge of Connecticut was the first US Grand Lodge to recognize a PHA Grand Lodge. As of today, 80% of the US Grand Lodges have voted for either full recognition or to at least allow visitation of their PHA counterparts. As a result, most non-American Grand Lodges now recognize the PHA Grand Lodges that have been recognized by their mainstream counterpart.
We take pride in recognizing that the mainstream and Prince Hall Grand Lodges of Delaware signed a recognition compact in September 2006. Hopefully that leads to inter-visitation and membership in Thailand soon.
The man who started it all, Bro. Prince Hall died on December 7, 1807 in Boston. During his life he had been a ground breaking Mason, patriot and leader among the African-American community. Bro. Hall continually badgered the city of Boston as well as the state government of Massachusetts to build schools and improve the education of Boston’s African American children. His tenacity, energy and intellect built a new wing of Freemasonry, opening up the fraternity to new and energetic members. For this, he is owed a great debt of thanks.
[Taken from a variety of sources]