Prince Hall (c. 1735-December 4, 1807) is considered the founder of "black Freemasonry" in the United States, known today as Prince Hall Freemasonry. Events April 16 - The London premiere of Alcina by George Frideric Handel, his first the first Italian opera for the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. ... December 4 is the 338th day (339th on leap years) of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1807 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The Masonic Square and Compasses. ... Prince Hall Freemasonry derives from historically unique events which led to a tradition of separate, predominantly African-American, Freemasonic fraternal organization in North America. ...

Prince Hall is claimed to have been born in British Barbados on September 12, 1735, moving to Boston at a later date, sometime before 1775. He was the son of an English leather merchant and his mother a free colored woman of French extraction. He secured a working passage on board a ship bound for America. He was a hard worker and realized that education was a key to success. He was an active worker in his community. He loved his new home in America and when the outbreak of the war for Independence he presented a petition on behalf of Blacks stating they were willing to serve in the Continental Army.

Documents in Massachusetts showing that slaveowner William Hall freed a man named Prince Hall on April 9, 1765 cannot be conclusively linked to any one individual as there exists record of no less than 21 males named Prince Hall, as several other men named Prince Hall were living in Boston at that time. It is also unknown whether he was free-born or a freedman. Narrative stories of Prince Hall's birth and youth are unsubstantiated and appear to have been invented by their authors (particularly William H. Grimshaw in 1903). Official language(s) English Capital Boston Largest city Boston Area  Ranked 44th  - Total 10,555 sq mi (27,360 km²)  - Width 183 miles (295 km)  - Length 113 miles (182 km)  - % water 13. ... April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). ... 1765 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub of the Universe (The State House, according to Oliver Wendell Holmes, is the hub of the Solar System), Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area    - City 232. ... A Freedman or freedwoman (gender-neutral: freedperson) is a former slave who has been manumitted or emancipated. ... 1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Friday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ...

Prince Hall was a property owner and a registered voter in Boston. He worked as an abolitionist and civil rights activist, fought for laws to protect free blacks in Massachusetts from kidnapping by slave traders, campaigned for schools for black children, and operated a school in his own home. This French poster depicting the horrific conditions on slave ships was influential in mobilizing public opinion against slavery. ... Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ...

On March 6, 1775, Prince Hall and fourteen other black men were initiated, passed and raised in Military Lodge No. 441, an integrated Lodge attached to the British Army and then stationed in Boston. Prince Hall apparently served in the Continental militia during the American Revolutionary War, and may have fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill. (Once again, his service record is unclear because several men of the name appear in the Massachusetts militia records.) March 6 is the 65th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (66th in Leap years). ... 1775 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... The forces deployed by the colonists during the American Revolutionary War included units organized as a national army and units of militia raised by each state. ... Combatants American Revolutionaries, France, The Netherlands, Spain, American Indians Great Britain, German mercenaries, Loyalists, American Indians Canadian Indians Commanders George Washington, Comte de Rochambeau, Nathanael Greene, Bernardo de Gálvez Sir William Howe, Sir Henry Clinton, Lord Cornwallis (more commanders) The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), also known as the... Combatants Kingdom of Great Britain Province of Massachusetts Bay Commanders William Howe Robert Pigot Henry Clinton Israel Putnam William Prescott Joseph Warren† (Declined command) Strength 2,600 1,500 Casualties 226 dead 828 wounded 140 dead 271 wounded 30 captured (20 POWs Died) The Battle of Bunker Hill took place...

When the British Army left Boston in 1776, the black Masons were granted a dispensation for limited operations as African Lodge No. 1. They were entitled to meet as a Lodge, to take part in the Masonic procession on St. John's Day, and to bury their dead with Masonic rites, but not to confer degrees or perform other Masonic functions. Excluded by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, they were granted a charter by the Premier Grand Lodge of England in 1784 as African Lodge No. 459 (but, due to communications problems, did not receive the actual charter until 1787). This article is about the year 1776. ... The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts (GLMA) is the main governing body of Freemasonry within Massachusetts, and maintains Lodges in certain jurisdictions overseas, namely Panama, Chile, the Peoples Republic of China and Cuba. ... The United Grand Lodge of Englands Coat of Arms Headquarters of The UGLE. The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) is the main governing body of Freemasonry within England, and certain jurisdictions overseas (normally ex-British Empire and Commonwealth countries). ... 1784 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1787 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

Shortly after that, black Masons elsewhere in the United States began contacting Prince Hall with requests to establish affiliated Lodges in their own cities. Consistent with European Masonic practice at that time, African Lodge granted their requests and served as Mother Lodge to new black Lodges in Philadelphia, Providence and New York. Nickname: City of Brotherly Love, Philly, the Quaker City Motto: Philadelphia maneto (Let brotherly love continue) Location in Pennsylvania Coordinates: Country United States State Pennsylvania County Philadelphia Founded October 27, 1682 Incorporated October 25, 1701 Mayor John F. Street (D) Area    - City 369. ... Nickname: Beehive of Industry, The Renaissance City Location in Rhode Island Coordinates: Country United States State Rhode Island County Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline (D) Area    - City 20. ... Nickname: Big Apple Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ...

A problem quickly arose for black men wishing to become Masons in the newly formed United States: the members of a Lodge must agree unanimously in an anonymous vote to accept a petitioner to receive the degrees. As a consequence of the unanimity requirement, if just one member of a lodge did not want black men in his Lodge, his vote was enough to cause the petitioner's rejection. Thus, although exceptions did exist, Masonic Lodges and Grand Lodges in the United States generally excluded African Americans. And since the vote is conducted anonymously, this created a second problem: since no one knew who had voted against the applicant, it was impossible to identify a member as pursuing a policy of racism. This allowed even a tiny number of prejudiced members to effectively deny membership to black petitioners, and in some cases even exclude black men who had legitimately been made Masons in integrated jurisdictions. Thus there arose an apparently unintentional system of racial segregation in American Masonry, which remained in place until the 1960s and which persists in some jurisdictions even to this day. An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ...

In 1791, black Freemasons met in Boston and formed the African Grand Lodge of North America. Prince Hall was unanimously elected its Grand Master and served until his death in 1807. (The claim that he was appointed Provincial Grand Master for North America in 1791 appears to have been fabricated.) The African Grand Lodge was later renamed the Prince Hall Grand Lodge in his honor. In 1827 the African Grand Lodge declared its independence from the United Grand Lodge of England, as the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts had done 45 years earlier. It also stated its independence from all of the white Grand Lodges in the United States. 1791 (MDCCXCI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 11-day-slower Julian calendar). ... 1807 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1791 (MDCCXCI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 11-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Naval Battle of Navarino by Carneray 1827 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

Today, predominantly black Prince Hall Grand Lodges exist in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Liberia, governing Prince Hall Lodges throughout the world. After nearly two centuries of controversy, the Grand Lodge of England was ask to decide the matter of Prince Hall Masonic legitimacy. Carefully studying the records, the Grand Lodge of England concluded that the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts was indeed entitled to Masonic recognition. As a result, most (though not all) "mainstream" (i.e. predominantly white) Grand Lodges in the United States and elsewhere have extended full fraternal recognition to their Prince Hall counterparts. World map depicting Caribbean: West Indies redirects here. ...

References

• Draffen of Newington, George (May 13, 1976).  Prince Hall Freemasonry.  Scotland: The Phylaxis Society.  Reprinted at Phylaxis Society: Prince Hall Freemasonry (retrieved December 29, 2004).

• Edward, Bruce John (June 5, 1921).  Prince Hall, the Pioneer of Negro Masonry.  Proofs of the Legitimacy of Prince Hall Masonry.  New York.

• Grimshaw, William H., Past Grand Master, 1907 of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Washington, District of Columbia (1903).  Official History of Free Masonry Among the Coloured People in North America.  Note: significant claims in this book have been discredited by later research.

• Haunch, T.O.  (Commentary on the illegitimacy of alleged Provincial Grand Master patent.)  Phylaxis Society: Reviews of Prince Hall Freemasonry (retrieved December 29, 2004).

• Moniot, Joseph E.  Prince Hall Lodges History—Legitimacy—Quest for recognition.  Proceedings, Vol. VI, No. 5, Walter F. Meier Lodge of Research No. 281, Grand Lodge of Washington.

• Roundtree, Alton G., and Paul M. Bessel (2006).  Out of the Shadows: Prince Hall Freemasonry in America, 200 Years of Endurance.  Forestville MD: KLR Publishing. ISBN 0977238504

• Walkes, Jr., Joseph A (1979).  Black Square and Compass—200 years of Prince Hall Freemasonry, p. 8.  Richmond, Virginia: Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Co.

• Wesley, Dr. Charles H (1977).  Prince Hall: Life and Legacy.  Washington, DC: The United Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, Prince Hall Affiliation and the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum.  Reprinted in Prince Hall Masonic Directory, 4th Edition (1992).  Conference of Grand Masters, Prince Hall Masons.

External links

• Biography of Prince Hall, Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon
• Prince Hall History, Widow's Son Lodge No. 4 PHA, North Carolina
• Prince Hall Freemasonry, Phylaxis Society
• Find-A-Grave: Prince Hall
• Michigan Prince Hall Grand Lodge