The history of black Freemasonry from Boston and Philadelphia in the late 1700s through the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement • Examines the letters of Prince Hall, legendary founder of the first black lodge • Reveals how many of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century were also Masons, including Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Nat King Cole • Explores the origins of the Civil Rights Movement within black Freemasonry and the roles played by Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois When the first Masonic lodges opened in Paris in the early 18th century their membership included traders, merchants, musketeers, clergymen, and women--both white and black. This was not the case in the United States where black Freemasons were not eligible for membership in existing lodges. For this reason the first official charter for an exclusively black lodge--the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts--was granted by the Grand Lodge of England rather than any American chapter. Through privileged access to archives kept by Grand Lodges, Masonic libraries, and museums in both the United States and Europe, respected Freemasonry historian Cécile Révauger traces the history of black Freemasonry from Boston and Philadelphia in the late 1700s through the Abolition Movement and the Civil War to the genesis of the Civil Rights Movement in the early 1900s up through the 1960s. She opens with a look at Prince Hall, legendary founder and the chosen namesake when black American lodges changed from “African Lodges” to “Prince Hall Lodges” in the early 1800s. She reveals how the Masonic principles of mutual aid and charity were more heavily emphasized in the black lodges and especially during the reconstruction period following the Civil War. She explores the origins of the Civil Rights Movement within black Freemasonry and the roles played by Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois, founder of the NAACP, among others. Looking at the deep connections between jazz and Freemasonry, the author reveals how many of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century were also Masons, including Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Eubie Blake, Cab Calloway, and Paul Robeson. Unveiling the deeply social role at the heart of black Freemasonry, Révauger shows how the black lodges were instrumental in helping American blacks transcend the horrors of slavery and prejudice, achieve higher social status, and create their own solid spiritually based social structure, which in some cities arose prior to the establishment of black churches.

The first in-depth account of an African American institution that spans the history of the American Republic.

A Noble Fight examines the metaphors and meanings behind the African American appropriation of the culture, ritual, and institution of freemasonry in navigating the contested terrain of American democracy. Combining cultural and political theory with extensive archival research--including the discovery of a rare collection of nineteenth-century records of an African American Freemason Lodge--Corey D. B. Walker provides an innovative perspective on American politics and society during the long transition from slavery to freedom. With great care and detail, Walker argues that African American freemasonry provides a critical theoretical lens for understanding the distinctive ways African Americans have constructed a radically democratic political imaginary through racial solidarity and political nationalism, forcing us to reconsider much more circumspectly the complex relationship between voluntary associations and democratic politics. Mapping the discursive logics of the language of freemasonry as a metaphoric rendering of American democracy, this study interrogates the concrete forms of an associational culture, revealing how paradoxical aspects of freemasonry such as secrecy and public association inform the production of particular ideas and expressions of democracy in America.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1975.

For too long, the norms of society found its way into Freemasonry, and have influenced the moral compass of a Masonic Lodge, instead of the beauty of Freemasonry being taught, and sending this light into the world within enlightened minds that produces a better society. This has created a domino effect of high visibility with negative repercussions that is gaining traction with the ability of masons to communicate, and see masonry practiced in all parts of the world like never before. Now is the time to halt the slide and get back to the foundation and intent of the craft. This book is the baring of my thoughts, mistakes and ultimately- my clarity of mind and spirit. This book is my story, my ideas, and my vision to a better social climate within the Fraternity. It is my humble experience in Black and White.

For too long have the norms of society found its way into Freemasonry and leading men of a Masonic Lodge, instead of the beauty of Freemasonry being taught and sending this light into the world within enlightened minds that produces a better society. The knowledge found within the walls of a lodge can make a man truly a better man within his faith, a better father, son, husband and ultimately a better man for the world. There are issues, academic and social, that are preventing this process from happening in Masonic lodges today. For centuries, a Masonic Lodge has been the place of higher learning. Kings, scholars, presidents, white collar and blue collar individuals, have all advanced the beauty that the Creator of humankind, God, has innately placed within each of us. Like the power of centripetal force, goodness revolving in the center attracts goodness to it. In America, this circular motion is stalling and causes a regression in positive men emanating the beauty of the craft into society. Quietly, the separation of men due to the darkness of America's past hampers the liberation of each heart. A lack of the ability to invest time in each Mason, as was available in the past during the golden age of the fraternity, to instill in him the beauty of truly being a point within a circle of ALL mankind, has created a domino effect of negative repercussions that is gaining traction with the ability of masons to communicate and see masonry practiced in all parts of the world like never before. Now is the time to halt the slide and get back to the foundation and intent of the craft. No longer can we quietly hide behind the long existing reverence and mystic of the craft and hope the social issues that led to a division of men, and the lack of holding each Brethren accountable of the responsibility to Master the Craft and being truly declared a Master Builder, will quietly be held to a minimum until the Fraternity recovers by a hopeful influx of new inventive minds. These men are already here entering our lodges seeking light and finding the old ideas working against new ones. Traditions founded out of practice and not of ancient usage and logic guarding the door of true spiritual growth. Men seeking knowledge should not be outcasts within the minority. There does exist Masonic Grand Lodges that are proactive in these departments, but they are not enough. If we are to continue to produce men that are to lead society into the beautiful humanity that God intends, and that our ancient knowledge was designed to induce, we must all be on one accord. There can be no waves in the ocean if the planet wasn't moving. The waves of the ocean transport energy around the world. I have always been a wave, but with insight of experience and knowledge gained through proper tutoring and research, I am a wave with a purpose as well. This book is the baring of my thoughts, mistakes and ultimately- my clarity of mind and spirit. This book is my story, my ideas, and my vision to a better social climate within the Fraternity. It is my humble experience in Black and White.