Generally speaking, the following points outline the more important aspects of what constitutes Freemasonry:
Freemasonry is a society that utilizes the tools and symbols of the Ancient Stone-Craft Masons in allegorical and symbolic ways to impress upon the minds and hearts of its members the moral truths inculcated in those symbols. Freemasons strive to better themselves, to be charitable and to positively impact the local communities in which they reside.
Freemasonry is the world’s oldest and largest fraternity.
Freemasonry is universal, that is to say, it is global in reach.
Freemasonry is constituted of men concerned with moral and spiritual themes, not in a dogmatic sense, but in a manner that allows each person the right to exercise their freedom of conscience to arrive at their own personal answer to the questions posed.
Freemasonry does require that each potential member have faith in Deity. No specific religious dogma or concept of Deity is imposed. Again, this is a matter left to each individual to exercise their own freedom of conscience.
Freemasonry’s origins are old. We know that during the medieval period guilds of stone workmen existed that were organized into exclusive lodges. These are referred to as the operative masons. To insure that their craft methodologies remained exclusive, they were bonded to secrecy. Because of their exclusivity, a phenomenon occurred where non-workers were allowed to join these powerful guilds, and as the demand for their trade waned, those guilds were transformed into exclusive groupings that allowed men to freely assemble and freely speculate on topics often censored, by the ruling orthodoxy. The latter group is referred to as speculative masons. In the year 1717, four existing lodges in England formed a Grand Lodge - the first public appearance of the Fraternity. In 1775, Prince Hall (a black man) along with 14 other men were initiated in a military lodge in Boston, MA, thus marking the first men of color to be admitted into Freemasonry in America and thus the beginning of our legacy as Prince Hall Masons. Freemasonry is fundamentally a traditionalist society. It is concerned with philosophical themes and ideals, such as, virtue and honor.
Who is Prince Hall?
Prince Hall (c.1735[1] – December 4, 1807) is considered the founder of "Black Freemasonry" in the United States, known today as Prince Hall Freemasonry.
Prince Hall's birthdate and birthplace are subject to conjecture. He may have been born in either England, Massachusetts or Barbados, and the year 1738 is now generally agreed on though not certain. Narrative stories of Prince Hall's birth and youth are unsubstantiated and appear to have been invented by their authors (particularly William H. Grimshaw in 1903).
Documents in Massachusetts showing that slaveowner William Hall freed a man named Prince Hall on April 9, 1765 cannot be conclusively linked to any one individual as there exists record of no fewer than 21 males named Prince Hall, and several other men named Prince Hall were living in Boston at that time. It is also unknown whether he was free-born or a freedman.
Prince Hall was a property owner and a registered voter in Boston. He worked as an abolitionist and civil rights activist, fought for laws to protect free blacks in Massachusetts from kidnapping by slave traders, campaigned for schools for black children, and operated a school in his own home.
On March 6, 1775, Prince Hall and fourteen other free black men were initiated, passed and raised in Military Lodge No. 441, an integrated Lodge attached to the British Army and then stationed in Boston.
It is probable that Prince Hall served in the Massachusetts militia during the American Revolutionary War, but his service record is unclear because at least six men from Massachusetts named "Prince Hall" served in the military during the war. Historians George Washington Williams and Carter Woodson[2] believed that this Prince Hall did serve in the war. He may have been one of the black soldiers who fought on the American side of the Revolution.
When the British Army left Boston in 1776, the Black Masons were granted a dispensation for limited operations as African Lodge. They were entitled to meet as a Lodge, to take part in the Masonic procession on St. John's Day, and to bury their dead with Masonic rites, but not to confer degrees or perform other Masonic functions. Excluded by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, they were granted a charter by the Premier Grand Lodge of England in 1784 as African Lodge No. 459 (but, due to communications problems, did not receive the actual charter until 1787).
Shortly after that, black Masons elsewhere in the United States began contacting Prince Hall with requests to establish affiliated Lodges in their own cities. Consistent with European Masonic practice at that time, African Lodge granted their requests and served as Mother Lodge to new black Lodges in Philadelphia, Providence and New York.
A problem quickly arose for black men wishing to become Masons in the newly formed United States: the members of a Lodge must agree unanimously in an anonymous vote to accept a petitioner to receive the degrees. As a consequence of the unanimity requirement, if just one member of a lodge did not want black men in his Lodge, his vote was enough to cause the petitioner's rejection. Thus, although exceptions did exist, Masonic Lodges and Grand Lodges in the United States generally excluded African Americans. Also since the vote is conducted anonymously, this created a second problem: since no one knew who had voted against the applicant, it was impossible to identify a member as pursuing a policy of racism. This allowed even a tiny number of prejudiced members to effectively deny membership to black petitioners, and in some cases even exclude black men who had legitimately been made Masons in integrated jurisdictions. Thus there arose a system of racial segregation in American Masonry, which remained in place until the 1960s and which persists in some jurisdictions even to this day.
In 1791, black Freemasons met in Boston and formed the African Grand Lodge of North America. Prince Hall was unanimously elected its Grand Master and served until his death in 1807. The African Grand Lodge was later renamed the Prince Hall Grand Lodge in his honor. In 1827 the African Grand Lodge declared its independence from the United Grand Lodge of England, as the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts had done 45 years earlier. It also stated its independence from all of the white Grand Lodges in the United States.
Today, predominantly black Prince Hall Grand Lodges exist in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Liberia, governing Prince Hall Lodges throughout the world. After nearly two centuries of controversy, the Grand Lodge of England was asked to decide the matter of Prince Hall Masonic legitimacy. Carefully studying the records, the Grand Lodge of England concluded that the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts was indeed entitled to Masonic recognition, and this against the tradition that, per state, only one recognised Masonic body should exist. As a result, most (though not all) "mainstream" (i.e. predominantly white) Grand Lodges in the United States and elsewhere have extended full fraternal recognition to their Prince Hall counterparts.
Why should you become a member of Pioneer Lodge?
Pioneer Lodge seeks to reclaim the esteem and traditional aspects of Freemasonry by returning to the roots of our noble institution. We are confident that, as we embrace the traditional and educational aspects of the Craft, our beloved Fraternity will experience positive growth in terms of quality and quantity of membership. We willingly extend an invitation to all men of good will to become united with us in this regard.
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