DISPELLING THE MYTH THAT PRINCE HALL MASONS ARE CLANDESTINE
            R. Stanley Harrison, Connecticut (Grand secretary)
             (A talk to the Grand Secretaries assembled at the
        Grand Masters conference in Alexandria, VA,  February, 1992)

     My Brothers, honored Colleagues, Grand Secretaries: Most Worshipful
Brother Robert E. Davies, Agenda Chairman of this Grand Secretaries
Conference, asked that I prepare and present the above subject and topic for
you at this 1991 Grand Secretaries Conference. I assure each of you Brothers
from our recognized Sister Grand Jurisdictions, that it is not my prerogative
in presenting this subject, to convince or change your thoughts and actions
regarding the subject in any of your Grand Jurisdictions. I do prevail upon
each and every one of you to listen with open minds to the accurately
researched material, proven by so many scholars, who over the many years have
authentically studied this subject pertaining to Prince Hall, F. & A.M.
Masonry.

     Definition of Clandestine: ->(Webster's Unabridged) Conducted with
secrecy by design, actually for evil purposes. ->Mackey: The irregular origin
or operation as a Masonic Lodge or men functioning as a Body of Masonry. Also
referring to Clandestine, perhaps those Grand Jurisdictions do not require a
belief in a Supreme Being as a requirement for membership, or the use of a
Book of Sacred Law on the Altar in their Lodges; also those Grand
Jurisdictions which do not conform to all the requirements of recognition as
are set forth in our own Grand Jurisdiction.

     The traditional story regarding Prince Hall is published annually in the
Prince Hall Masons Year Book, an official publication sponsored by the Grand
Masters Conference of Prince Hall Masons of America. It must, therefore, be
assumed that this traditional history is regarded as correct and accurate by
the various Prince Hall Grand Lodges of the United States of America. Prince
Hall was born in Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies, about September 12, 1748.
There are some discrepancies of a couple years one way or the other of 1748,
which was true in many records of death and birth in that era. He was
freeborn. His father, Thomas Prince Hall, was an Englishman and his mother a
colored woman of French extraction. At approximately 17 years of age, he
worked passage on a ship to Boston, Massachusetts. He worked as a leather
worker and some eight years later acquired real estate and became a qualified
voter in Massachusetts. Prince Hall was religiously inclined and later became
a Methodist preacher with a charge at Cambridge, Massachusetts. In Boston,
Massachusetts on March 6, 1775, 15 free black men, including one named Prince
Hall, were Initiated into Masonry in Castle William (now Fort Independence)
in Boston Harbor by Masonic Lodge No. 441 (attached to the British Garrison
38th Regiment of Foot, as a Military Lodge from the Grand Lodge of Ireland).
Sergeant John B. Batt was listed as the presiding Worshipful Master. Records
of the Grand Lodge of Ireland show these are true facts. Later, these Black
Brethren were granted a permit with limited activities; not being able to
confer Degrees. The same procedure was followed by Union Lodge of Albany, now
Mount Vernon No. 3, F. & A.M., whose civilian members had all been made in
Army Lodge No. 74, Ireland. First Lodge meaning one under Dispensation.

     Prince Hall was the first Worshipful Master of this Lodge, which was
organized and opened as the first Lodge of Black Masons in America. From 1784
to 1806 Prince Hall conducted voluminous correspondence with the English
Grand Secretary, more so than any other American Mason of that period. Most
of the information about Massachusetts Freemasonry and Massachusetts Lodges
went to England through Prince Hall, since none of the other Massachusetts
Lodges corresponded with England during the period of 1770.

     Written evidence exists to show that regular meetings of First African
Lodge were held from 1779 to 1787. Its Regulations dated January 14, 1777,
are now in the British Grand Lodge Library, London, England. Prince Hall made
application to Dr. Joseph Warren, who was killed in a skirmish at Bunker Hill
before any action could be completed.  He later applied to the Provincial
Grand Master, Brother John Rowe, but his granted permit was for very limited
activities of the Lodge. Irked by Rowe's failure, Prince Hall made a request
through one William M. Moody; the application is preserved in the British
Grand Lodge Library, and it referred to the Lodge as having existed for eight
years. The request was granted and a Charter was issued to African Grand
Lodge No. 459 under date of September 29, 1784.

     A true record of the act and of all fees being paid is recorded in the
English Grand Lodge. The Charter was not delivered for three years due to the
ending of the war and travel circumstances. Publicity of the Warrant being
received appeared in the Boston newspapers and no protest was ever filed by
any white Lodges in or around Boston. At this time, the Black Lodge was the
only Body in Massachusetts which held a true Warrant from the Grand Master of
England, the acknowledged Mother Grand Lodge of the Masonic World.

     In the report of the Massachusetts Grand Lodge, F. & A.M., Most
Worshipful Melvin Johnson stated that on May 6, 1787, African Lodge No. 459
was formally organized in Boston under the Charter with Prince Hall as
Worshipful Master. That Charter is in existence today and there is no
question of its authenticity; it is believed to be the only original Charter
issued from the Grand Lodge of England in the United States. African Grand
Lodge was formed following Ancient Custom and Usages; Prince Hall being
selected as Grand Master.

     Prince Hall issued a permit and Warrant to 13 Black Brothers Initiated
in England, to form the African Lodge of Philadelphia, with no protest from
Philadelphia white Masons. In 1797, Hiram Lodge No. 1 was Chartered in
Providence, Rhode Island; the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island itself being formed
in 1856. After its formal organization, African Lodge functioned as a Mother
Lodge, assuming authority to establish other Lodges, much as it had been
founded by the British Army in 1776; this was indeed considered a lawful
practice of Freemasonry in those days. Upon the death of Prince Hall it was
voted to change the name to Prince Hall Grand Lodge in memory of the founder.
The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts was formed one year after the African Grand
Lodge, and any new and arbitrary regulation concerning Territorial
Jurisdiction, such as only one Grand Lodge in each state, could not be
applied to pre-existing Grand Lodges within the state insofar as legality is
concerned. It can only be applied for purposes of recognition. It also cannot
make rules binding upon the Mother Lodge of England which Chartered them.
Thus, the forming of African Grand Lodge was more properly accomplished than
the formation of white Grand Lodges in other states. In 1813, the United
Grand Lodge of England, upon revising the Roll of Lodges, omitted those which
had gone out of, or joined, other Grand Lodges. African Grand Lodge was
included, but so were over 70 Lodges in the United States, among them being
St. Johns Lodge of Boston, Massachusetts.

     It is now agreed that this act by the English United Grand Lodge in 1813
had no effect upon the legitimacy or standing of any erased Lodge. We all
note that there have existed for many years the several active and legitimate
Bodies of Appendant Black Masonic Organizations, in York Rite, Scottish Rite,
Order of the Eastern Star and so forth. For our acceptance of recognition of
Prince Hall Masonry, we are cognizant of their belief in a Supreme Being, the
use of a Book of Sacred Law on their Altar, and we know their Rituals, Modes
of Recognition (Secret Work), their procedures, their requirements, their
beliefs, their tenets or fundamental principles are all either identical with
what we have or are recognizably similar. The following items further
substantiate that Prince Hall Masons are not Clandestine: The Ancient
Landmarks do not require that a Grand Lodge have exclusive Jurisdiction.
There were two Grand Lodges in Massachusetts until 1792 and St. Andrews Lodge
of Boston continued to work under the Grand Lodge of Scotland until 1809.
There were two Grand Lodges in South Carolina until 1817. There were two
Grand Lodges in New York until 1827. American doctrine of Exclusive
Jurisdiction was not put forth until the 1880s.

     The Grand Master of Massachusetts, William Sewall, in 1870 said that he
had no doubt that Black Masons were legitimate. Shortly after that, a select
committee in the Grand Lodge of Ohio studied the matter for a year and
reported that it was satisfied beyond all question that Colored Masonry had
a legitimate beginning in this Country, as much as any other Freemasonry; in
fact it came from the same source.

     In 1898, the Grand Lodge of the State of Washington admitted the
legitimacy of the Black Masonry. (Massachusetts, Ohio and Washington all
referred to Prince Hall Affiliates.)  At the Annual Communication of the
Grand Lodge of the State of Washington F. & A.M. in July 1990, Prince Hall F.
& A.M. Affiliates were granted Recognition and Visitation rights. In 1940 the
Prince Hall Affiliate appeared in an action in the Court of Common Pleas at
New Haven, Connecticut, against two Clandestine Black Lodges. Two Past Grand
Masters of the Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Connecticut, both attorneys, and
the Deputy for Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite in Connecticut, appeared and
gave active assistance. The two Past Grand Masters testified to the
recognized legitimacy of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge.

     In 1947, the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts voted to recognize Prince Hall
Masonry but bowed to pressures from one Northern Grand Lodge and several in
the South and rescinded that action in 1949, saying because of objections .
. . and not because (they were) not legitimate.

     In May of 1876, the Deputy Grand Master of Scotland presented a lengthy
paper in the Transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge and concluded that
Prince Hall Masonry was legitimate according to the customs of the times
(when it was founded), that Prince Hall's patent of appointment as Provincial
Grand Master was legitimate and that Prince Hall and African Lodge warranted
other Lodges exactly as the White Lodges did (notable examples being the
Lodge at Fredericksburg establishing two). In 1974, a Special Committee of
the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin, chaired by a former Chief Justice of the
Wisconsin Supreme Court, ended two years of exhaustive studies of the
legitimacy of Prince Hall Masonry and the doctrine of exclusive Jurisdiction.
The Committee concluded that nothing prohibited the recognition of Prince
Hall Masonry. After stalling in 1976 and 1977 and further stalling in 1978
and 1979, the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin recognized Prince Hall Masonry, F. &
A.M., in 1990. Let me conclude thusly: Here are men, good men, who have been
following the ideals of Masonry and thinking themselves as Masons, for well
over 200 years, and have contributed to the welfare of Freemasonry over all
these years. Therefore, the important first step is simply to acknowledge the
legitimacy of Prince Hall Masons, to cease the hostilities and to stop
stating Irregular every time Prince Hall Masonry is mentioned.

                                  Summary

     It has been my honor and privilege to present and discuss this topic
with you, this august assemblage of Grand Secretaries. Great concern has been
evidenced by so many of you good Brothers regarding Prince Hall Masonry,
whether or not it is a prevailing subject in your respective Grand
Jurisdictions. To date (2/92), there have been five Grand Jurisdictions which
have recognized Prince Hall Masonry. They are: Connecticut, Nebraska,
Wisconsin and Washington, with the latest being the Grand Lodge of Colorado.
(As of 12/92 the count was up to eight, these five being joined by Michigan,
North Dakota, and Idaho.) The recognition in four Grand Jurisdictions has
been for Recognition and Visitation rights only, and the Grand Jurisdiction
of Nebraska permitted Affiliations and so forth. Within the past few months,
I have received requests from five other Grand Jurisdictions for all the
material we used in our Grand Jurisdiction of Connecticut in our preparations
and mutual resolutions between my Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Connecticut and
Prince Hall F. & A.M. Affiliates of Connecticut. I have distributed these
materials at each of the classes I have conducted at this Conference. Concern
was expressed by some Brothers regarding other Black Grand Lodges, several
being in some Grand Jurisdictions. The consensus of opinion seems to be that
Prince Hall Grand Lodge should take the initiative to have these other Black
Grand Lodges clean up their act, so it eliminates the prevailing situation
which is currently existing in those Grand Jurisdictions where several Black
Grand Lodges now are operating. Considerable discussion evolved with
reference being directed to Brothers visiting in Lodges that recognize Prince
Hall Masonry. The opinion seem to be that you let your conscience be your
guide and attend their Lodges. It also would work in the same manner for
those who have recognized Prince Hall Masonry already, while visiting a Grand
Jurisdiction which has not recognized Prince Hall Masonry. We must bear in
mind at all times that we must recognize and abide by Regulations of each and
every Grand Jurisdiction.

     The matter of Grand Lodge of England withdrawing recognition of Prince
Hall Masonry was brought up; research has proven that such has no effect on
the legitimacy of Prince Hall Masonry. Prince Hall Masonry operates even now
with a legitimate Charter with all their other Masonic Appendant and
Affiliated Bodies in full and legitimate operation. It was my pleasure to
have researched the subject and present to you that which I have gleaned from
materials prepared and presented by so many notable Masonic Scholars and
researchers. Thank you, and so mote it be.
                              END OF ARTICLE