Prince Hall and 14 men of color made Masons by a British army lodge; African Lodge No. 459 chartered by England (Boston, 6 March 1775; London, 29 September 1784)

SUMMARYPrince Hall and 14 men of color made Masons by a British army lodge; African Lodge No. 459 chartered by England (Boston, 6 March 1775; London, 29 September 1784) [Connections: Masonic color line, asylums, castles, wight, Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDThe Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts gives its own history: "On March 6, 1775, Prince Hall and 14 men of color were made masons in Lodge #441," a lodge "of the Irish Registry attached to the 38th British Foot Infantry." The lodge's master, named only as "Worshipful Master Batt," gave them a "permit" to "meet as a lodge and bury their dead." African Lodge was "organized on July 3, 1776, with Prince Hall as the worshipful master." The Grand Lodge then states: "The Grand Lodge of England issued a charter on September 29, 1784 to African Lodge #459." Wikipedia adds that the charter was issued under Grand Master H.R.H. the Duke of Cumberland. Prince Hall also petitioned the Massachusetts legislature in 1788 against the kidnapping of Black Bostonians and their sale into slavery

PATTERNBlack Masonry in America has an English warrant, the same kind of root that white American grand lodges claimed for themselves. The later refusal to recognize it was a decision, not a gap in the paperwork

LENS (WW9)The door was opened by the Crown's own army lodge. American lodges are the ones that later locked it

OPENSources differ on the count (Wikipedia gives "14" in one article and "15 others" in another). Whether the original 1784 warrant survives, and when it reached Boston, was not confirmed this session

SOURCEPrince Hall Freemasonry, Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts; Wikipedia: Prince Hall.