Black Masons in Brooklyn: an Indomitable Brotherhood

I became interested in the subject of Freemasonry after happening upon several pictures of African American Masons in our Brooklyn Daily Eagle photographs.  

I have relatives who were Freemasons in the early to mid-20th century and, although I know little about the organization, I have always been curious about its purposes, and what benefits it provides to its members and their local community. From what I understand of my family lore, my paternal great-uncle, a restaurateur, rose to a relatively high rank in the Masons, and convinced my grandfather to join as well. This was in the depths of the Great Depression in Kansas City. My father explained that his uncle, as a businessman, felt he could benefit from the support of a fraternal organization, and in that time and place, the Masons were one of the few fraternal organizations that would welcome Jews.  

I wondered if the same motivations and constraints led African Americans to become Masons as well.  

The challenge of the evidence 

Two caveats to begin:  

Articles in the Newsstand, in a predicable demonstration of the social and political bent of some of the publications - even those desiring to be positive - are peppered with a mixture of condescension, stereotyping and offensive terms. I cite articles to indicate the change in attitudes towards the increasing acceptance of Black Masons but feel obliged to include a trigger warning for anyone who decides to read the articles more fully. Such are the pitfalls of historical research. 

It is predictably difficulty to learn about Freemasonry because it is a secret organization, so information about it is sparse, opaque and hard to authenticate. I only cite the most basic points about Masonry and profess no expertise. My explorations center on the evidence to be found in the archive, and how that can illuminate the story of Black participation in the organization. 

Origins 

What we know of Freemasonry, as it is practiced today, began in 18th century Britain and based its structure on the stonemason guilds of late medieval Europe. Those guilds established a professional network, protected and communicated trade secrets, hosted collegial gatherings, and served as mutual aid societies for its members. 

In colonial America, Freemasonry was practiced on both the loyalist and revolutionary sides during the American War for Independence. Many of the founding fathers were Freemasons. 

Precepts 

The basic precepts of Masonry are few: they involve maintaining an [unspecified] sacred text in the lodge, belief in an [unspecified] Supreme Being, the exclusion of women from the membership, and eschewing the discussion of religion and politics in the lodge. The organization is pointedly non-sectarian. Although women are excluded from the main organization, there now exist affiliated bodies that are primarily but not exclusively for women related to members, and those also accept men. 

Note: the abbreviations preceding the lodge names depend on the English Grand Lodges they are aligned with:  F. and A.M. (Ancient Free and Accepted Masons) or F. and A.M. (Free and Accepted Masons) and the two labels are evenly distributed among the US states.  

Prince Hall: origins of African American participation in Freemasonry 

Prince Hall was a free Black abolitionist and leather artisan in Boston who was initiated, along with 14 other free Black men, into Freemasonry in an Irish lodge connected to the British forces, as African Lodge No. 1, in 1775. This lodge, though allowed to meet as Masons, were denied many essential functions, like the conferring of degrees.  After the departure of the British, White lodges refused to recognize the African Lodge. In 1784 they petitioned the Grand Lodge of England (UGLE), considered the Mother Lodge of the World, the legitimating Masonic body, for a charter. This was granted, and African Lodge No. 1 became African Lodge No. 459 of Boston, Massachusetts. 

A little more than a hundred years later, Prince Hall was memorialized in Boston by his Masonic brethren with a monument in Copp’s Hill burying ground. Masons continue to celebrate Hall on that site. I was able to find photographs of a tribute in 2019; note that there is now a strong female presence in that event. 

Localized control and challenges to recognition, cooperation and integration 

It is important to note that Freemasonry is made up of local lodges supervised by a Grand Lodge on the level of a state or province. The Grand Lodges are independent of each other, and can determine the legitimacy of their constituent lodges. This can lead to disagreements over who is considered a Mason, and these disputes can center on many issues such as protocols and jurisdiction, as well as race. 

Despite the imprimatur from UGLE, the mother organization, the fight for full acceptance for the African American lodges was long and that process continues to this day. The level of integration between the White and Black branches of Freemasonry in the US has progressed in fits and starts and still varies from state to state.   

In addition to the recognition from the UGLE, other European bodies also legitimated Black lodges in the 19th century in France and Germany, and this led to schisms between the White Masonic organizations in both Europe and the US. 

Grand Master Dingman [of Washington, DC] however, issues his edict upon this ground, that the Cerneau organization are on terms of amity and friendship with the Grand Orient of France, who are under the ban of the rest of the English speaking Grand Lodges for having stricken the name of God from their rituals. Then the Frenchmen recognize the negro Masons, also; and altogether they are at swords’ points. 

Benefits of Freemasonry 

Freemasonry was a way for free Blacks to organize and fight for their rights of freedom, citizenship and education, support other organizations with similar goals and provide mutual aid to members and their community. Members were legitimated by an organization that was wider than the Black community, and yet provided a measure of autonomy to run the organization and point their energies as they wished. Despite persistent segregation within the wider White Masonic group, there was a recognition across the color line that could be a useful and even lifesaving advantage for Black Masons. 

This is well illustrated in Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance by Alvin Hall (2023), who traveled the US on roads covered by the Green Book and interviewed people en route who remembered using the book to navigate safely through unfamiliar places in the time of Jim Crow. One interviewee recalled her grandfather’s tactics on the road: 

My grandfather was a Mason. He would put his ring on whenever they traveled, and he would put his Mason seal on the back of the car. So, every once in a while, my mother remembered, the car would get pulled over. My grandfather would just make sure the ring [on his finger] would be on the steering wheel and make sure that the police officer could see it. If the officer didn't see the seal on the back of the car, my grandfather would rub [the ring] to make sure that he would see it. Somehow, they didn't seem to have any problems. 

Another respondent recounts: 

In those days, the Masonic order was very strong in the South … Being a Mason is not as prevalent now. [Back then] if you were a Mason, you had a certain sign that you threw with your hands. If you went to court, if the white judge was a Mason and the white police were from the Masons, they considered you their brother because you were Mason. So, they'd give you more leniency than if you weren't a Mason. 

Traces in Brooklyn Newsstand 

In the heyday when fraternalism was most popular, from the 1870s-1920s, there was a lot of news to report on the groups’ activities, and newspapers often had whole pages dedicated to the subject. 

Articles covering Masonic lodges, Black or White, in the Newsstand describe little of the activities inside private meetings. Most mentions simply report elections, but occasionally we hear about Masons officiating at the laying of cornerstones of churches, charitable activities, and occasional entertainments - like dances - that were, of necessity, open to wider participation.  

And this event begs the question – what was the role of women in the organization? 

Woman in Freemasonry 

Female relatives of Masons, whose full membership was explicitly forbidden in the original tenets of Freemasonry, were able to establish women’s auxiliaries appendant to some lodges. These were often called Order of the Eastern Star (OES), with chapter (and subsidiary group: court) names referring to the bible, such as Heroines of Jericho, or more generic names like Stella or Fortitude. One sees those women’s groups active in charity causes. 

Not all women in the auxiliaries were interested in full membership. An 1868 letter to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle opines: 

For the benefit of the friend writing in behalf of the “ladies of the friendship family,” we can positively assert that no lady was ever made a Mason, and consequently could bring neither credit nor discredit upon the organization. As long as the true spirit of the craft remains intact, no such novelty can occur … "Stella"

We can infer from the signature that this was written by a member of the female “Stella” auxiliary Masonic chapter.  

Charitable activities 

Despite their ancillary status, the women’s auxiliaries played a vital role in charitable work in the African American community: 

Several hundred persons attended the seventh annual sugar bowl shower that was given at the Home for Aged Colored People, Kingson Ave. And St. John’s Place on Thursday evening Many pounds of sugar were donated to the management of the home and also cash. The affair was under the auspices of the members of Deborah Court No. 3 of the Heroines of Jericho, the auxiliary of the colored Royal Arch Masons (Prince Hall affiliation). 

Note: the name Stella Gross, M.A.M. [Most Ancient Matron] is simply a coincidence with the chapter named in the previous article entitled: The Ladies and the Freemasons. 

Cornerstones 

The Masonic connection to the architectural trades explains why we see a number of articles announcing Masons involved in the laying of church cornerstones in the Black community. 

The conrnerstone was laid by Grand Master E.B. Eto of the Grand Lodge of negro Masons of this state.

Notable Masons 

Articles in Brooklyn Newsstand highlight many notable Black Masons: professionals in various fields, politicians, doctors and members of the clergy, among others. 

Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, writer, historian and activist, whose collection become the basis of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, was reported to be active in the Masons in this article of 1931:

Brooklyn literary circles lost one of their leading and most interesting personalities when Arthur L. Schomburg … left yesterday for Nashville, Tenn., to serve at Fisk University as curator … Mr. Shomburg [sic] has also been very active in fraternal and social organizations. It is through his efforts, it is said, that a closer relationship exists between white and colored Masons of New York State. He is past master of the Prince Hall Lodge 38 of Masons and Rising Sun Chapter 4, R.A. M. He also served as secretary of the Grand Lodge of Masons for the State. 

However, shortly thereafter, in 1933, he decided to cut ties with the organization. 

Colored Masonic circles were greatly disturbed a few days ago when Past Grand Secretary Arthur A. Schomburg, colored scholar and Masonic authority, announced in the press that he was through with New York Prince Hall Masons. In so doing he states that, “Gone to rest are the memories of friends and foes with no bitterness towards any one."

A veteran’s name, honored but misspelled 

Just as members of Prince Hall lodges fought in the Revolution, they also served in the Civil War. An obituary for Prince Hall Mason Francis Loyons shows that he was a veteran of the Civil War and a member of the William Lloyd Garrison Post of the G.A.R. of NY. 

Francis Loyons (Lyons] is dead in his seventy-seventy year. He was born in Cuba and had been a resident of Brooklyn for sixty-one years. He is survived by his widow, Caroline; two daughters … and three sons, William, Francis and James. He was a past comember of William Lloyd Garrison Post, No. 207, G.A.R., of New York. He was a veteran of the Civil War, and a member of Prince Hall Lodge, No. 38, F. and A.M. 

To find out more about him I searched the National Park Service Civil War soldier database; his unusual name did not come up. Disturbed that he was not recorded, I tried the logical alternative spelling, and Francis Lyons did appear in the database.

A cross-reference from Ancestry shows that he was indeed Francis Lyons, born around 1847, an immigrant from Cuba who earned his living as a cigar maker. The coincidence of his birth year, country of origin and eldest son William, confirm it. Another small reminder that our Newsstand contains errors we need to be alert to. 

Multiple memberships 

One can find evidence of Masons who were members of several other fraternal organizations, so we can infer that these memberships were not mutually exclusive. This obituary of Benjamin Butler, Jr. Indicates he was a member of three fraternities. 

Active for more than 40 years in the Elks, he held the post of the Exalted Ruler of the Brooklyn Lodge 32 IBPOE (Improved Benevolent and Protective Order Elks), and was also Grand Lodge Officer. He was also a member of the Knights of Pythias Unity Lodge, and a Prince Hall Mason of the St. Cecil[e] Lodge. 

According to a Wikipedia article about the African American Elk organization, the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World (IBPOEW), the White Elks (BPOE) only accepted Black members in 1972. (Note the pointedly more inclusive name of the former organization.) A contradictory article in the Chicago Tribune reports that integration in 1973 (Chicago Tribune, July 20, 1973, p.12) :

By a vote of 2,186 to 773 the national convention of the Elks removed the "whites only" clause in their constitution. At three previous conventions, the Elks voted overwhelmingly to retain the ban on blacks. 

This leads me to infer that the fraternal organizations that Butler was a member of in 1963 were likely to be Black organizations with ties to, but not integration with, the White organizations. 

Here would be the site of one example: Elks Plaza: home of Elks Lodge 32:

Originally a single-family home, the current Elks Plaza building was expanded several times in the 1910s and 20s to create the current four-story masonry building. In the 1940s, it became the Brooklyn home of the Black Elks, the African American branch of the Elks fraternal organization (the original Elks, founded in 1868, did not admit Blacks until 1973). As Brooklyn Lodge No. 32 (the name still visible today on the building’s exterior) it grew to serve over 1,000 members and for many years was one of the few non-denominational sites in the area where blacks could congregate. 

Butler’s membership in the St. Cecile Lodge provides another point of interest.  

St. Cecile Lodge, well known as a dramatic and musical lodge, will resume labor after its summer vacation on Tuesday afternoon next, at 1:30 o’clock, in Tuscan Room, Masonic Temple ... 

There were lodges that specialized in certain industries, like actors and entertainment industry workers, who were frequently tasked with providing entertainment because they were best qualified to put on a good show. Perhaps as a florist Butler felt an affinity to some of the events he catered to, or his schedule made it more convenient for him to attend a “Daytime” lodge. 

St. Cecile Lodge was established as the first “Daytime” lodge because its entertainment industry members could not assemble for the usual evening meetings, so their meetings were held during the day. 

What does the future hold? 

Repeatedly, as was the case with the origins of the Prince Hall Lodge, when Black members were refused by the white fraternal organizations, the Black contingent formed their own organization. This also happened when there was a doctrinal split between groups. And so, the arguments over names and legitimacy, on grounds of race, gender and doctrine seem to be a longstanding part of the history of fraternal organizations, the Masons included. 

But as numbers flag and the heyday of fraternal membership has become a distant memory, these organizations are coming to realize that they need each other to survive, and the trend towards racial and gender integration is likely to accelerate  

An article in the Washington Post entitled: D.C. Knights of Pythias Hope to Eliminate Color Barrier by Thomas Bell, published February 22, 1990, gives a hint of the way forward. 

Steve Siegel, 34, the white knights' youngest member, said his lodge would fall apart if the two didn't unite. "I'd say goodbye," Siegel said. "And some of the older guys would leave, too." Riding down in the elevator of the Odd Fellows Hall, Siegel whispered to a fellow knight: "We have to work on getting women in next."