| Who was the FIRST Black Mason? |
| Greetings, now that may very well be the Million Dollar Question. I have talked with many Sis's & Bro's, and have been directed to several websites. I have posted below 2 articles that I am particulaly fond of. The one about Angelo Soliman or is it Suliman? There seemed to be some controversy about the spelling of the name although the article spelled it Soliman. Maybe sometimes the spelling of a name changes when written in another language, but not being versed on the topic of languages and phonetic changes, I won't go there*smile* Notice in the article about Angelo Soliman, it says he was made a Mason in 1781 in the True Harmony Lodge and later became Grand Master of that Lodge. In looking at the article about John Pine, also the issue about the spelling of the name "Pine" or "Pyne", it says he was a mason in 1725 but could have been raised as early as 1723. Looking at both these articles it is curiously interesting to me that Soliman was born in the early 1700's and Pine in 1690, not far apart enough to make a distinction of who was the oldest and would that really matter? I doubt it, once a man becomes a man he can be made a Mason at any time thereafter. So, I see it as John Pine/Pyne. Either way, both these men are to be honored and distinguished as the FIRST Black Mason. Remaining Prayerful, Sis. Joyce |
| THE STORY OF SAINT ANGELO SOLIMAN - A MOORISH SLAVE & A MASTER MASON: An Illustration of Moorish Sanctity and European Perfidy Eighteenth century freemasons took great pride in their egalitarianism, sometimes demonstrating it by initiating members whose company they might otherwise have spurned. A celebrated example of Masonic broad-mindedness involved a one-time slave named Angelo Soliman. Born in North Africa in the early 1700s, Soliman was sold into slavery as a child. He was educated by a succession of wealthy European owners, wound up as a tutor in an aristocratic household in Vienna, and became a popular figure in court circles. Eventually he was freed and he afterward married a widowed baroness. In 1781, he was initiated into the prestgious True Harmony Lodge, whose members included many of Vienna's social elite. Soliman became Grand Master of that lodge and helped change its ritual to include the reading of serious academic and scientific papers, a practice that eventually spread to lodges throughout Europe and enhanced Freemasonry's reputation for intellectual rigor. Similarly, Soliman's membership the secret brotherhood became a famous example of Masonic progressive thought. Still, the former slave met with a most peculiar fate. When he died in 1796, his body was claimed by the Holy roman Emperor Francis II, who ordered it flayed and stuffed. (The monarch had a bizarre habit of collecting stuffed human corpses.) Francis then put the dreadful piece of taxidermy on display in his private museum ,dispite the pleas of Soliman's daughter and the outraged protests of his Masonic brothers. The grisly relic remained in the imperial collection until the Austrian Revolution of 1848, when a grenade pitched into the Palace library sent the remains of Angelo Soliman up in a merciful burst of flames. It was none other than Grand Master Soliman together with our thrice-blessed Noble Drew Ali and the late, sainted Archbishop George Hyde and Bishop Mikhail Francis Itkin who, manifesting on the earthly plane and in corporeal form, spiritually ordained Sotemohk, the lineage-holder of this See, to the sacred Moorish Episcopate and prompted his induction as Grand Master of the Revivified Sacred Order of Chaerona. |
| If John Pine (born 1690, died 1756) was not the first Negro made a mason in England he was not far behind. He was a member of the lodge at Globe Tavern, Morgate in 1725 where his name was spelled ‘Pyne’. He was an engraver and a close friend of the painter Hogarth. He became famous in his day by being the engraver who produced the beautiful frontis-piece to Dr. James Anderson’s Constitutions of 1723. The same engraving was used again in the 1738 edition of Anderson’s Constitutions. Beside the art work in the Constitutions Bro. John Pine engraved the annual List of Lodges from 1725 to 1741. They were done in the form of a packet of loose cards rather than being bound in a book. These lists showed the sign of the tavern or inn where the lodge met ; the address of the inn ; and the time and night of meetings. The first page of the 1725 List of Lodges pictured the engraved signs of the Goose and Grid Iron, Queens Head at two locations, Horn, King’s Head, Griffin, Three Compasses, and Fountain Tavern. The Book of Constitutions came about when the Grand Lodge, organized in London in 1717, requested Rev. Anderson DD to digest the old Constitutions into a new and usable system . The work was completed and published in 1723 and the House of the Temple in Washington has two copies of the original 1723 edition as well as copies of the 1738 edition. Bro. John Pine served as Marshall of the Processions on January 29th, 1730 when Lord Kingston, GM escorted the Duke of Norfolk, GL-Elect, from the Duke’s house in St. James Square (London) to Merchant Taylor’s Hall. "The Marshall, Mr. Pyne , is to bear a Truncheon painted blew and tipt in gold " John Pine who was described as fat and jovial, was born in London, and spent his entire life there. Other than his Masonic engravings, he produced an unbelievable quantity of art, chiefly in the form of book illustrations. John Pine, like Hogarth, trained as a silversmith’s engraver and became London’s finest heraldic and decorative engraver. This led to an appointment as Bluemantle Pursuivant in the College of Heralds in 1743 where he took up residence. A monumental work was an exquisite edition of "Horace" in which the whole text was engraved and illustrated with ancient bas-reliefs and representations of gems. Known as "Pine’s Horace," this was published in two volumes in 1733 and 1737 and is now a collector’s item of considerable value. The "Dictionary of National Biography" whose approximately 70 volumes list the most important British personages through the years, devotes about two full columns to John Pine and almost as much to his son, Robert Edge Pine, who was also an artist. The son migrated to America after the signing of the Declaration of Independence with the intention of painting the important persons involved in the Revolution as well as scenes of interest. Robert Pine spent three weeks at Mt. Vernon painting George Washington and his family. |
| You can visit both the sites of these articles through the links below, this is a really nice picture of Soliman. |
| Angelo Soliman |
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| Remaining Prayerful, Sis.Joyce |
| Much gratitude and Thanks to Bro. Rashied Sharrieff Al Bey for the enlightenment and reference material of this article. |