(FRATERNAL AND SORORAL) GRAND LODGE OF F AND A MASONS Negro

Sale 2377 - Lot 357

Unsold

Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900

(FRATERNAL AND SORORAL.) GRAND LODGE OF F AND A MASONS. Negro Masonry. A Committee Report. 13 pages. Tall 8vo, original printed stiff, cardstock salmon wrappers, stapled. an exceptional copy [Tacoma, Washington?], 1898

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The Committee responds to "A Communication received from p[persons claiming to be 'Free and Accepted Masons of African descent,' and alleging their legitimacy in that regard." The Committee's Report, which was adopted by an "almost unanimous vote," affirms "that Masonry is universal, and that neither race nor color can legitimately be made a test of worthiness to share it mysteries." The Report explains the origin of the Negro Lodges in America, the first being a Revolutionary War lodge founded by Prince Hall. The Report expresses impatience with feeble "excuses" denying Negroes and their lodge's equality of membership in Freemasonry, but acknowledges that a separate, rather than integrated status best reflects American customs "in purely social matters." Scarce: OCLC locates four copies: NYPL, Natl. Heritage Museum, Yale, and UC Davis.