HISTORY
Prince Hall was free born in Bridgetown, Barbados, British West Indes. His father, Thomas Prince Hall, was an Englishman and his mother a free colored woman of French descent. In 1765 he worke as an apprentice on a ship to Boston, where he worked as a leather worker, a trade learned from his father. Eight years later he had acquired real estate and was qualified to vote. Religiously inclinded, he later became a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church with a charge in Cambridge.
Black Freemasonry began when Prince Hall and Fourteen other Free black men were initiated into Lodge No. 441, Irish Constitution, attached to the 38th Regiment of Foot, British Army Garrisoned at Castle William (now Fort Independence) Boston Harbor on March 6, 1775. The Master of the Lodge was Sergeant John Batt. Along with Prince Hall, the other newly made masons were Cyru Johnson, Bueston Slinger, Prince Rees, John Canton, Peter Freeman, Benjamin Tiler, Duff Ruform, Thomas Santerson, Prince Rayden, Cato Speain, Boston Smith, Peter Best, Forten Howard and Richard Titley.
When the British Army left Boston in 1776, this Lodge, No. 441, granted Prince Hall and his brethren authority to meet as African Lodge #1 (Under Dispensation), to go in procession on St. John's Day, and as a Lodge to bury their dead; but they could not confer degrees nor perform any Masonic "work". For nine years brethren, together with other who had received their degrees elsewhere, assembled and enjoyed their limited privileges as Masons. Thirty-three masons were listed on the rolls of African Lodge #1 on January 14th 1779. Finally on March 2, 1784, Prince Hall petitioned the Grand Lodge of England, through a Worshipful Master of a Subordinate Lodge in London (William Moody of Brotherly Love Lodge No. 55) for a warrent or charter.
The warrant to African Lodge No. 459 of Boston is the most significant and highly prized document known to the Prince Hall Mason Fraternity. Through it our legitimacy is traced, and on it more than any other factor, our case rests. It was granted on September 29, 1784, delived in Boston on April 29, 1787 by Captain James Scott, brother-in-law of John Hancock and master of the Neptune, under its authority African Lodge No. 459 was organized one week later, May 6, 1787.
Prince Hall was appointed a Provincial Grand Master in 1791 by H.R.H., the Prince of Wales. The question of extending Masonry arose when Absalom Jones of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania appeared in Boston. He was an ordained Episcopal priest and a mason who was interested in establishing a masonic Lodge in Philadelphia. Under the authority of the charter of African Lodge #459, Prince Hall established African Lodge #459 of Philadelphia on March 22, 1797 and Hiram Lodge #3 in Providence, Rhode Island on June 25, 1797. African Lodge of Boston became the "Mother Lodge" of the Prince Hall Family. It was typical for new lodges to be established in this manner in those days. The African Grands Lodge was not organized until 1808 when representatives of African Lodge #559 of Boston, African Lodge #459 of Philidelphia and Hiram Lodge #3 of Providence met in New York City.
Upon Prince Hall's death on December 4, 1807, Nero Prince became Master. When Nero Prince sailed to Russia in 1808, George Middleton succeeded him. After Middleton, Petrert Lew, Samuel H. Moody and then John T. Hilton became Grand Master. In 1827, Hilton recommended a Declaration of Independence from the England Grand Lodge.
In 1869 a fire destoyed Massachusett's Grand Lodge headquarters and a number of its priceless records. The charter in its metal tube was in the Grand Lodge Chest. The tube saved the charter from the flames, but the intense heat charred the paper. It was at this time that Grand Master S. T. Kendall crawled into the burning building and in peril of his life, saved the charter from complete destruction. Thus a Grand Master's devotion and heroism further consecrayed this parchment to us, and added a futher detail to its already interesting history. The original Charter No. 459 has long since been made secure between heavy plate glass and is kept in a fire proof vault in a downtown Boston bank.
Today, the Prince Hall Fraternity has over 4,500 Lodges worldwide, forming 45 independent jurisdictions with a membership of over 300,000 masons.
1. Prince Hall Masonic Directory, 4th Edition 1992. Conference of Grand Masters, Prince Hall Masons.
2. Black Square and Compass - 200 years of Prince Hall Freemasonry. Page 8. Joseph A. Walkes, Jr. 1979. Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Co. Richmond, Virgina