Page 186 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript African Americana- Sale 2308 - March 21, 2013

339
338 ● (FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS.) MASONS. Prince Hall. 1748-1807.
Jurisdiction. Small bronze medallion, 3cm in diameter; nice, even patina consistent with
age; the face of this medal bears a likeness of Prince Hall around which is “FRDSP *
MRLTY * BTHLY LVE. F. & A.M.” (“Friendship * Morality * Brotherly Love. Free and
Accepted Masons”) The reverse bears a number of the classic mystical signs of the Masonic
order: the “all-seeing eye,” the square and compass, etc..
Np [Boston?, circa 1807] [1,000/1,500]
AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE MEDALLION, QUITE LIKELY MINTED FOLLOWING THE DEATH OF
PRINCE HALL, FOUNDER AND GRAND MASTER OF THE ORIGINAL AFRICAN LODGE
NUMBER 1. Prince Hall (1748-1807) was a free black and ardent abolitionist. The Masonic
fraternity was extremely attractive to free blacks of the eighteenth century. Prince Hall and his fol-
lowers saw Freemasonry as a platform where racial differences did not exist. The Masonic ideals
greatly appealed to Hall, especially the beliefs in liberty, equality and peace. Prior to the
American Revolutionary War, Prince Hall and fourteen other free black men petitioned for the
admittance to the white Boston St. John’s Lodge and were turned away. Some whites were irate
at the audacity of blacks applying to be Masons. Because of the attitude of the colonial
Masonries, Hall decided to look elsewhere, and on March 6, 1775, he and fifteen other free
blacks were initiated into the Masonry by members of the Lodge No. 441 of the Grand Lodge of
Ireland, a military lodge attached to the 38th Foot (renamed “The 1st Staffordshire Regiment”
in 1782). The Lodge was attached to the British forces stationed in Boston. Hall and the other
freedmen founded African Lodge No. 1 with Prince Hall named as Grand Master.
339 ● (FRATERNAL.) UNITED
BROTHERS OF FRIENDSHIP. Ritual
and Degree Book of the United
Brothers of Friendship. Engraved illus-
trations. 82 pages. Square 12mo, original
cloth, worn with about 1/2 of the back-
strip gone; paper toned, Text lightly
soiled. [Louisville, KY], 1888 [300/400]
Organized on August 1, 1861, by Marshall
W. Taylor, William N. Hazleton, Wallace
Jones, W. H. Lawson, Benjamin Carter,
Charles Coates, W. T. Lewis, and Charles B.
Morgan, all colored men, free and slave, nearly
all under age, at Louisville. The order func-
tioned as a benevolent association, to care for
the sick, bury the dead, etc. Nearly all were
pupils in day or night schools, and, under the
advice of their teacher, W. H. Gibson, they reor-
ganized the society in 1868. In 1871 the
society having been gradually extended
throughout Kentucky, a Grand Lodge was
formed, and in 1875, membership having
spread to neighboring States, a National Grand
Lodge was organized. W. H. Gibson, the first
State Grand Master, served five years. He was
also National Grand Master, and filled that
office for four years, distinguishing his incum-
bency by establishing Lodges of United
Brothers of Friendship, as the society was then
called, from the lakes to the gulf.
[SEE ILLUSTRATION OVERLEAF]