Wear the image, bar the people: the Improved Order of Red Men

SUMMARYWear the image, bar the people: the Improved Order of Red Men (Nov 8, 2026; Tito: "That's why Indian and negro symbolism is heavily involved in masonry")

RECORD (Wikipedia, "Improved Order of Red Men," citing the order's own records)started "as a revival in Baltimore" in 1834, from a Society of Red Men formed about 1813 at Fort Mifflin; the order "claims direct descent from the colonial era Sons of Liberty," the men who dressed as "Indians" at the Boston Tea Party; local units are "tribes" led by a "Sachem," meeting places are "Wigwams"; outsiders are "Palefaces," opening a meeting is "kindling the fire," installing officers is "Raising up of Chiefs"; the 1886 constitution limited adoption to "free white male[s] of good moral character"; the order stayed whites-only until 1974, when the 106th Great Council removed the clause. The ritual reflects Freemasonry's influence; scholars call it "playing Indian."

LENS (WW9)a fraternal order built its whole ritual on our image and kept our people out for 140 years

OPENthe 1886 constitution page itself (archive copy); the Tammany Society "wigwams" as a second card. Connects: P854, P857, P858.