The Florida Sentinel, Annual Edition 1904: Black Masons, Black officials and the word "Afro-American"

SUMMARYThe Florida Sentinel, Annual Edition 1904: Black Masons, Black officials and the word "Afro-American" (Nov 5, 2026). From Tito's screenshots (UWF Digital Collections, uwf.digital.flvc.org). Extends P095.
RECORD, on the pages: "1867–Free Masonry in Florida–1904": Florida's first Black lodges (Solomon No. 50, St. John's No. 51, Mount Moriah No. 52) organized by Charles F. Dailey and chartered by the Hiram Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania (March 2, 1867); the Grand Lodge of Florida organized in Jacksonville (January 17, 1870), with 225 lodges and 9,564 members by 1904; Rev. J. H. Dickerson as Grand Master; officers in Tampa (Peter Johnson, 1515 Jefferson St.; John Jackson, 1110 Michigan Ave.), Tallahassee, Pensacola, Orlando; a Masonic Benefit Association paying widows. "Business, Professional and Prominent Public Men of Florida": Hon. Joseph E. Lee, Collector of Internal Revenue for the District of Florida, appointed by McKinley, a Howard law graduate (1873) and AME minister. The Florida Baptist College, Jacksonville, President N. W. Collier. Dr. I. B. Scott, editor of the Southwestern Christian Recorder, New Orleans, and the paper's use of "Afro-American."

PATTERNin 1904, Black Florida had its own Grand Lodge, colleges, newspapers and federal officeholders, including Masonic officers in Tampa on Jefferson Street and Michigan Avenue

LENS (WW9)the Black Masonic press is a record the community kept itself; read it as an insider witness

OPENthe 1904 Tampa lodge names and addresses on today's map (Central Avenue / The Scrub era); "Afro-American" as a chosen name (T. Thomas Fortune's Afro-American League, 1890).