The History of Prince Hall Free and Accepted Masons
Prince Hall is recognized as the Father of Black Masonry in the United States. He
made it possible for us to also be recognized and enjoy all priviliges of Free and
Accepted Masonry.
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 countries of the day were searched and churches with baptismal records were
examined without a find of the name of Prince Hall.
1
One widely circulated rumor states that "Prince Hall was free born in British West
Indies. His father, Thomas Prince Hall, was an Englisman and his mother a free colored
woman of French extraction. In 1765 he worked his passage on a ship to Boston, where
he worked as a leather worker, a trade learned from his father. Eight years later
he had acquired real estate and was qualified to vote. Religiously inclined, he
later became a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church with a charge
in Cambridge." This account, paraphased from the generally discredited Grimshaw
book of 1903, is suspect in many areas.2
Black Freemasonry began when Prince Hall and fourteen other free black men were
initiated into Lodge No. 441, Irish Constitution, attached to the 38th Regiment
of Foot, British Army Garrisoned at Castle William (now Fort Independence) Boston
Harbor on March 6, 1775. The Master of the Lodge was Sergeant John Batt. Along
with Prince Hall, the other newly made masons were 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.
When the British Army left Boston in 1776, this Lodge, No 441, granted Prince Hall
and his brethren authority to meet as African Lodge #1 (Under Dispensation), to
go in procession on St. John's Day, and as a Lodge to bury their dead; but they
could not confer degrees nor perform any other Masonic "work". For nine years these
brethren, together with others who had received their degrees elsewhere, assembled
and enjoyed their limited privileges as Masons. Thirty-three masons were listed
on the rolls of African Lodge #1 on January 14th, 1779. Finally on March 2,
1784, Prince Hall petitioned the Grand Lodge of England, through a Worshipful Master
of a subordinate Lodge in London (William Moody of Brotherly Love Lodge No. 55)
for a warrant or charter.
The Warrant to African Lodge No. 459 of Boston is the most significant and highly
prized document known to the Prince Hall Mason Fraternity. Through it our legitimacy
is traced, and on it more than any other factor, our case rests. It was granted
on September 29, 1784, delivered in Boston on April 29, 1787 by Captain James Scott,
brother-in-law of John Hancock and master of the Neptune, under its authority African
Lodge No. 459 was organized one week later, May 6, 1787.
Prince Hall was appointed a Provincial Grand Master in 1791 by H.R.H., the Prince
of Wales. The question of extending Masonry arose when Absalom Jones of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania appeared in Boston. He was an ordained Episcopal priest and a mason
who was interested in establishing a masonic lodge in Philadelphia. Under the authority
of the charter of African Lodge #459, Prince Hall established African Lodge #459
of Philadelphia on March 22, 1797 and Hiram Lodge #3 in Providence, Rhode Island
on June 25, 1797. African Lodge of Boston became the "Mother Lodge" of the
Prince Hall Family. It was typical for new lodges to be established in this
manner in those days. The African Grand Lodge was not organized until 1808
when representatives of African Lodge #459 of Boston, African Lodge #459 of Philidelphia
and Hiram Lodge #3 of Providence met in New York City.
Upon Prince Hall's death on December 4, 1807, Nero Prince became Master. When Nero
Prince sailed to Russia in 1808, George Middleton succeeded him. After Middleton,
Petrert Lew, Samuel H. Moody and then, John T. Hilton became Grand Master. In 1827,
Hilton recommended a Declaration of Independence from the English Grand Lodge.
In 1869 a fire destroyed Massachusetts' Grand Lodge headquarters and a number of
its priceless records. The charter in its metal tube was in the Grand Lodge chest.
The tube saved the charter from the flames, but the intense heat charred the paper.
It was at this time that Grand Master S.T. Kendall crawled into the burning building
and in peril of his life, saved the charter from complete destruction. Thus a Grand
Master's devotion and heroism further consecrated this parchment to us, and added
a further detail to its already interesting history. The original Charter No. 459
has long since been made secure between heavy plate glass and is kept in a fire-proof
vault in a downtown Boston bank.
Today, the Prince Hall fraternity has over 4,500 lodges worldwide, forming 45 independent
jurisdictions with a membership of over 300,000 masons. Want more light?
1. Prince Hall Masonic Directory, 4th Edition 1992. Conference of Grand
Masters, Prince Hall Masons.
2. Black Square and Compass - 200 years of Prince Hall Freemasonry.
Page 8. Joseph A. Walkes, Jr. 1979. Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Co. Richmond,
Virginia
