# Prince Hall



## Blake Bowden (Apr 16, 2009)

Source: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6078






Birth:	 	1748
Death:	 	Dec. 7, 1807
Masonic Grand Master. The best scholarship for Hall's birth is based on records found in Barbados. He may have been the son of an English leather worker and a free black woman, and was therefore a freeman, but this is unconfirmed. It is alternately speculated that he was the slave of one William Hall of Boston who freed a man named Prince Hall in 1765, but that particular Prince Hall cannot be conclusively linked to any one individual, as several men named Prince Hall were living in Boston at that time. It is known, however, that in 1762, Hall joined the Congregational Church in Boston. By 1773, he had acquired real estate and qualified to vote. In 1775, Hall and fourteen other black men were admitted into Masonic Lodge Number 441, Irish Constitution. In 1776, when the British evacuated Boston, the Irish lodge, which was attached to the 38th Regiment of Foot, gave Hall and his follows the right to meet as African Lodge Number 1. By 1777, Hall was distributing anti-slavery petitions, drawing parallels between the principals of the American Revolution and the emancipation of slaves. By 1784, Hall had made no progress in Boston for the full acceptance of his lodge, and petitioned the Grand Lodge Number 55 of London to charter an independent African Lodge. The charter was issued, and in 1787 the African Masonic Lodge was officially established. In 1791, black Freemasons met in Boston and formed the African Grand Lodge of North America. Hall was unanimously elected its Grand Master. In 1798, Hall established a private school for free black children, the African Free School, in his son's home. After Hall's death, funeral rites were held for him in accord with Masonic ritual. He was buried in Boston in late March, 1808, after a large procession followed his body to the gravesite. Within a year of his death, Hall's followers renamed the African Masonic Lodge Prince Hall Masons in Hall's honor. Today, Prince Hall Grand Lodges exist in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, and Liberia numbering some 4,500 lodges worldwide, with a membership of over 300,000 Masons. (bio by: Iola) 

Burial:
Copps Hill Burying Ground 
Boston
Suffolk County
Massachusetts, USA
Plot: Beneath a simple marker behind an obelisk found in the southwesterly corner of the Burying Ground


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## A7V (Apr 16, 2009)

I just wanted to applaud you for opening this section of the forum.   I hope many of our Prince Hall brothers choose to frequent here.


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## Robert Marshall (May 9, 2009)

Not to insult anyone at all anywhere, but I've often been told that the GLoT does not recognize Prince Hall. Is this incorrect?


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## Bill Lins (May 9, 2009)

Yes, it is. A couple of years or so ago GLoT recognized PHAGL (in Texas) as "regular in origin & practice" but intervisitation is not allowed.


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## Robert Marshall (Jun 6, 2009)

Bill_Lins77488 said:


> Yes, it is. A couple of years or so ago GLoT recognized PHAGL (in Texas) as "regular in origin & practice" but intervisitation is not allowed.



Thank you for the enlightenment. Do you expect there to be an increase in acceptance of PH in the coming years? I honestly have no opinion either way as I am largely ignorant of its characteristics. All I know is that PH consists of a predominantly black population. I've heard such things that their rituals are different and perhaps, even more dangerous (some say life-threatening), but I have received no solid basis for such speculation. If, in fact, the ONLY difference is that the Prince Hall Masons are black, I hope to see a full-on consolidation someday. With the decreasing numbers of Masons, a collective pool of PH and AF & AM would certainly prove beneficial for Freemasonry as a whole, no?


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## Bill Lins (Jun 6, 2009)

Longhorn1rob said:


> Thank you for the enlightenment. Do you expect there to be an increase in acceptance of PH in the coming years? I honestly have no opinion either way as I am largely ignorant of its characteristics. All I know is that PH consists of a predominantly black population. I've heard such things that their rituals are different and perhaps, even more dangerous (some say life-threatening), but I have received no solid basis for such speculation. If, in fact, the ONLY difference is that the Prince Hall Masons are black, I hope to see a full-on consolidation someday. With the decreasing numbers of Masons, a collective pool of PH and AF & AM would certainly prove beneficial for Freemasonry as a whole, no?



In regard to ritual, I'm told that there is little difference between ours & that used by PHA. I have no personal knowledge either way.

I agree that consolidation would be a good thing for Masonry, but I doubt that we will see it happen in our lifetime, mainly because I believe that PHA knows that their organization would disappear in the merger & they would not want to cease to exist as a separate entity. YMMV.


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## js4253 (Jun 6, 2009)

Bill_Lins77488 said:


> In regard to ritual, I'm told that there is little difference between ours & that used by PHA. I have no personal knowledge either way.
> 
> I agree that consolidation would be a good thing for Masonry, but I doubt that we will see it happen in our lifetime, mainly because I believe that PHA knows that their organization would disappear in the merger & they would not want to cease to exist as a separate entity. YMMV.




I agree Bill.  I think they should be recognized and given the same rights and privileges as far as visitation, as any other Grand Lodge.


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## Inquirisophus (Jun 22, 2009)

Recommended reading:
Out of the Shadows:
The Emergence of Prince Hall Freemasonry in America,
200 Years of Endurance
by Alton G. Roundtree and Paul M. Bessel
Foreword by S. Brent Morris


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## Inquirisophus (Jun 22, 2009)

Book can be found:
http://bessel.org/phbook.htm


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## Blake Bowden (Jun 22, 2009)

Thanks for the info!


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## Inquirisophus (Jun 22, 2009)

I’m not as fluent in my discussion on prince hall masonry since I hasn’t been that long since I was raised. But there’s is another forum with a lot more vocal Brothers that can help bridge the communication here. I’ll reach out to them and see if they would join this forum as well.

I think communication is a start. Rather than speculating.


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## Scotty32 (Jun 23, 2009)

I think there will be a day where we can visit each other. The younger masons of GLoT (myself included) want to know more about PH, & younger PH masons want to know more about us.


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