Louisiana's 1868 Reconstructed Constitution, and Lieutenant Governor Oscar J. Dunn, a Prince Hall Grand Master

SUMMARYLouisiana's 1868 Reconstructed Constitution, and Lieutenant Governor Oscar J. Dunn, a Prince Hall Grand Master (Nov 5, 2026). From Tito's image: the lithograph "Extract from the Reconstructed Constitution of the State of Louisiana, with Portraits of the Distinguished Members of the Convention & Assembly, A.D. 1868."
RECORD, the print: it frames the Bill of Rights article that all persons shall enjoy equal rights and privileges in public conveyance and places of business "without distinction or discrimination on account of race or color," and the public education article requiring schools open to all children "without distinction of race, color, or previous condition," around a portrait of O. J. Dunn, with Pinchback, Antoine, Dupart, Isabelle and others.
RECORD, Dunn: Oscar James Dunn (about 1822–1871) became Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana in June 1868, the first Black lieutenant governor in the US, and served as acting governor for 39 days in 1871; he died in office on November 22, 1871. He was a Prince Hall Freemason: a member of Richmond Lodge No. 4 and "Master and Grand Master of the Eureka Grand Lodge" (later the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Louisiana) in the late 1850s (Wikipedia, citing Joseph A. Walkes Jr.). P. B. S. Pinchback, also on the print, later served briefly as governor (1872–73)

PATTERNBlack Masons built the leadership networks that carried Reconstruction's equal-rights constitutions

LENS (WW9)the Masonic story has two lodges: the one that drew the color line, and the Prince Hall lodges that organized against it

OPENthe convention members' own backgrounds (Creoles of color, Native ancestry); the circumstances of Dunn's sudden death (rumors of poisoning at the time; Disputed).