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[gentle music]
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- Alex Thomason:
Good evening, everyone.
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- Audience: Good evening.
- Alex: Thank you.
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My name is Alex Thomason.
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I am a member
of Middleton-Ionic Lodge here.
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And welcome
to the Middleton Masonic Center.
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We are pleased to host
this event alongside members
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of the Prince Hall
Capitol City Lodge No. 2.
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And we wanna recognize
the presence of members
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of the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin
and of the Prince Hall--
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Most Worshipful Prince Hall
Grand Lodge
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of Wisconsin, Incorporated.
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We appreciate you being here.
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This is an event that
we've been looking forward to.
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We appreciate the time
of Professor Kantrowitz.
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Today, we welcome
Professor Stephen Kantrowitz.
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He is the Linda and Stanley Sher
Professor of History,
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Afro American studies,
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and American Indian studies
at the UW-Madison.
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Professor Kantrowitz is
co-editor
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of All Men Free and Brethren:
Essays on the History
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of African American
Freemasonry.
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Professor Kantrowitz writes
and teaches about race,
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citizenship,
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and Native American-settler
interactions
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in the 19th-century
United States.
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Professor Kantrowitz
was born in Boston,
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earned his PhD
at Princeton University,
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and has been teaching
at UW-Madison since 1995.
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He is the recipient of
numerous awards and fellowships
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for his scholarship
and teaching.
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Please join me in giving a warm
welcome to Professor Kantrowitz.
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[audience applauds]
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- Stephen Kantrowitz:
Thank you very much, Alex
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and Alan, and I wanna thank
Middleton-Ionic
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and Capitol City Number 2
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for the invitation
to speak with you tonight.
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I also want to acknowledge
the variety of the audience
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that I'm speaking to,
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because while many of the people
in the room here tonight
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are familiar,
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maybe intimately familiar,
with Freemasonry,
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there are perhaps others here
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and definitely some out
in the audience
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that will be watching this
online or on TV
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that know little or nothing.
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So, some of what I'm gonna say
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may be too elementary
for some people here,
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and some may seem
too esoteric for others,
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but I'm gonna try and split
the difference as best I can.
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And I think I need to begin
for some of the people
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in the latter group of that
audience by asking the question,
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"What is Freemasonry?"
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A daunting question for a person
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who is not himself a Freemason
to answer.
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I will begin with a phrase
that my friend Mark Tabbert,
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who runs the George Washington
National Masonic Monument,
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to say that it's
not so much a secret society
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as a society with secrets.
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And as a historian,
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I wanna sort of begin in the
modern beginnings of Freemasonry
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in the 18th century,
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when Freemasonry
in its modern form
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emerged as an important arena
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in which men imagined
themselves as brothers,
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exemplars, and cosmopolitans.
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Brothers.
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According to the early
18th century
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Constitutions
of the Free-Masons,
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the order aspired to be--
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and I'll quote for the first,
maybe not the last time--
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"the means of conciliating
true friendship among persons
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that must else have remained
at a perpetual distance."
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And the lodge became
a place of high drama,
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with scripted rituals
and secret signs,
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but also, as
Masonic intellectuals thought,
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of innocent mirth.
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Freemasons were exemplars.
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Freemasonry imagined itself as a
transcendent project with roots
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in the Biblical past.
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According to Masonic tradition,
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when the builders
of the Temple of King Solomon,
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practical Masons,
completed their work
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and scattered across the world,
humanity lost its common tongue.
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Modern Freemasonry,
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a philosophical tradition
sometimes called
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speculative Masonry,
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promised the restoration
of a common grammar
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of truth and love.
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That common language
offered the world a model
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for peaceful coexistence
and the special
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and select men
who were drawn to Freemasonry
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and accepted into it
would exemplify that restored
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and perfected world.
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And finally, cosmopolitan.
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Freemasonry explicitly
welcomed men
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of all nations, tongues,
kindreds, and languages.
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In theory, merit and character
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were the only criteria
for membership
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in a global brotherhood
of worthy and equal men.
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And those men were supposed
to recognize
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and welcome one another
wherever they found one another.
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In the 18th century,
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in the midst
of a kind of ongoing challenge
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to monarchies and kingdoms
and empires,
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and the growth of an idea
of individual liberty
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and self-determination,
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the order grew
and spread across Europe
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and in the American colonies
and beyond.
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As it spread, its basic unit was
the lodge, the central place
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where a relatively small group
of men
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assembled together
on a regular basis.
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But each nation also had
eventually its own Grand Lodge,
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which oversaw and adjudicated
and chartered new lodges.
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It was selective and special.
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It attracted leading men
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who shared visions of
citizenship and self-government,
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and in particular,
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of leadership
within the new order
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of self-government
and self-determination.
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Eventually, it included
Presidents George Washington,
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James Monroe, Benjamin Franklin,
Paul Revere, and John Hancock,
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members of the United States
Constitutional Convention,
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and officers
in the Patriot Army.
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My subject tonight is the way
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that that story intersected
with another story:
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the struggle of people
of African descent
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to make a place for themselves
in the United States
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and to make
the United States a place worthy
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of their loyalty.
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To give that story life,
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I'm gonna trace some of it
through the life
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of one prominent 19th-century
American Freemason.
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A fugitive slave,
a freedom fighter,
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a Civil War recruiter,
a state legislator,
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and a Masonic leader and
intellectual: Lewis Hayden.
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In fact, Lewis Hayden is how I,
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an American historian who knew
nothing about the order,
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found Freemasonry as a subject.
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I was in Boston, my hometown,
working on a book
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about the 19th century freedom
struggle of Black Bostonians
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during the Civil War era.
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The book that became
More than Freedom:
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Fighting for Black Citizenship
in a White Republic.
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And Lewis Hayden quickly emerged
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as a central figure
in that story.
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But as I explored Lewis Hayden,
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I discovered there were
very few letters in his hand
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or to him.
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There were newspaper articles,
but I went looking for anything
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he might have written
and published.
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And when I looked--
I looked really hard.
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And what I found were
five pamphlets,
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all of them about Freemasonry.
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And I thought, "Huh,
what is going on?"
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Because it was not a topic
that had ever occurred to me
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as part
of this freedom struggle,
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part of the
organizational matrix
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that made up Black Boston
in the 19th century.
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And yet, this man who
I'd come to really deeply admire
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and found
a very compelling figure
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found this
such an important thing
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that he devoted much of his life
to it.
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He took it so seriously
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that I had to learn
to take it equally seriously.
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And that led to a book
that has a great deal
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to do with Freemasonry,
but it's not centrally about it,
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but then, also,
to a collaboration
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with another historian,
Peter Hinks,
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and with a wide variety
of contributors,
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to the creation of this book,
All Men Free and Brethren,
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which includes essays
on a variety of topics
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having to do with
African American Freemasonry.
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Tonight, I'm gonna offer
this talk in three parts.
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First, I'm gonna explain
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how Freemasonry became
an important part
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of 19th century African American
social and political life.
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Second, I'm gonna explore
Black Freemasons' struggle
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to break down
the barriers of racial caste
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and gain recognition
and acceptance
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by the era's white Freemasons.
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And, third, I'm gonna explore
how both of those projects,
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the creation of a network
and community
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of Black Freemasons in the
19th-century United States
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and their outreach to white
Freemasons for recognition,
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how those two projects fared
during Reconstruction,
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the remaking of the
United States as a democracy
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after the end of slavery
and the Civil War.
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First, how did Freemasonry
become such an important place
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for African Americans
in the 19th century?
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It became a place
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where men reached toward
each other, built community,
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established bonds of trust,
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and gained experience
in self-government,
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all of which
were profound challenges
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under the conditions
of Black freedom
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in a white republic.
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Even free Black people
in the United States--
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About 250,000 Black Northerners
were free
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in the middle
of the 19th century.
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Even free Black people lived
under the shadow
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of slavery in this era.
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They lived under the stigma
of being associated
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with slavery and servility.
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They lived in,
even in freedom,
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in places
that considered them not members
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of the political community,
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but potential threats
to the political community.
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They were subjects
of derision and suspicion,
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mockery and exclusion.
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In this context,
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the American Revolution
offered hope and possibility.
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And a Black leatherworker
named Prince Hall,
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born sometime in the 1730s,
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became an activist
in Revolutionary Boston.
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He was a literate man
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and the author
of many letters and petitions,
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one of them here,
freedom for the kidnapped,
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men who'd been kidnapped
unlawfully into slavery,
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for the admission
of African Americans
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into the Patriot Army,
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for their admissions
into schools,
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and admission to the
then-existing white lodges
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of Freemasons
in Revolutionary Boston.
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But that petition was rejected.
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And in 1775, Prince Hall
and about 14 of his comrades
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approached the members
of a British lodge,
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part of the British occupation
force then in Boston, 1775,
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who initiated them as Freemasons
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and named them
African Lodge No. 1.
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African, being a term
that in the late 18th
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and early 19th century,
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free Black people
had adopted as a way
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of establishing themselves
as a people.
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After the Revolution,
Prince Hall and his friends
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applied to the Grand Lodge
of England,
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the mother lodge of the lodge
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that had initiated them,
for a charter
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as an independent lodge
of Freemasons.
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And the charter, it would allow
them to initiate new Masons,
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to march,
and do other things,
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and received that charter
in 1787,
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becoming
African Lodge No. 459.
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Here's some documents
and artifacts
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from African Lodge 459.
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The lodge became a place
where Black men,
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excluded
from the political system,
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excluded from
representative government,
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excluded from public speaking
in most instances,
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could practice leadership,
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could practice
self-government
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outside of the mocking gaze
of their white conationals.
253
00:13:05,652 --> 00:13:06,820
Freemasonry became a place
254
00:13:06,887 --> 00:13:09,356
where they could build networks
among themselves,
255
00:13:09,423 --> 00:13:12,025
and eventually networks
across the small
256
00:13:12,092 --> 00:13:15,629
and scattered free Black
populations of North America.
257
00:13:15,696 --> 00:13:20,067
And in doing so,
not just in a utilitarian way,
258
00:13:20,133 --> 00:13:21,235
building a network,
259
00:13:21,301 --> 00:13:23,670
but building a network
that aspired to
260
00:13:23,737 --> 00:13:25,739
and imagined itself
as participating
261
00:13:25,806 --> 00:13:30,043
in a transcendent project
that promised universality,
262
00:13:30,110 --> 00:13:31,745
something that mattered
very much to people
263
00:13:31,812 --> 00:13:34,047
who felt themselves
very much excluded
264
00:13:34,114 --> 00:13:35,916
from the mainstream of social
and political
265
00:13:35,983 --> 00:13:39,319
and economic
and educational life.
266
00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:41,588
By the 1820s,
267
00:13:42,022 --> 00:13:46,026
slavery was dead or dying
everywhere in the North,
268
00:13:46,093 --> 00:13:50,163
and free Black communities grew
and strengthened,
269
00:13:50,230 --> 00:13:53,500
created
new organizational networks,
270
00:13:53,567 --> 00:13:56,036
new bonds of affiliation.
271
00:13:56,503 --> 00:13:59,173
And as that happened,
many--
272
00:14:01,175 --> 00:14:05,546
I would say in many cases,
most of the leading Black men
273
00:14:05,612 --> 00:14:08,215
of the first half
of the 19th century
274
00:14:08,282 --> 00:14:12,085
found their way
into Black Freemasonry.
275
00:14:13,220 --> 00:14:16,256
Just to look at these men
is to kind of take a tour
276
00:14:16,323 --> 00:14:18,492
through the world
of Black leadership
277
00:14:18,559 --> 00:14:20,727
before the Civil War.
278
00:14:20,794 --> 00:14:25,199
The Reverend Richard Allen,
the founder of the AME Church.
279
00:14:25,265 --> 00:14:26,800
David Walker, the author
280
00:14:26,867 --> 00:14:29,169
of Appeal to the
Colored Citizens of the World,
281
00:14:29,236 --> 00:14:31,438
one of the foundational texts
282
00:14:31,505 --> 00:14:36,310
of Black citizenship
and Black nationalism, both.
283
00:14:38,045 --> 00:14:39,446
John Jones,
284
00:14:39,513 --> 00:14:43,884
the leading Black activist
and entrepreneur of Chicago.
285
00:14:43,951 --> 00:14:47,321
Martin Delany,
a physician, a journalist,
286
00:14:47,387 --> 00:14:49,356
an itinerant, an organizer,
287
00:14:49,423 --> 00:14:52,159
eventually the
highest-ranking Black officer
288
00:14:52,226 --> 00:14:55,529
in the United States Army
during the Civil War.
289
00:14:55,596 --> 00:14:57,397
John Mercer Langston,
290
00:14:57,464 --> 00:15:01,635
the first Black elected official
in Ohio in 1855,
291
00:15:01,702 --> 00:15:04,705
and after the war,
a Congressman from Virginia.
292
00:15:04,771 --> 00:15:09,409
John S. Rock, not only
a physician and organizer,
293
00:15:09,476 --> 00:15:11,845
but also the first Black man
admitted to the Bar
294
00:15:11,912 --> 00:15:13,914
of the Supreme Court.
295
00:15:14,314 --> 00:15:16,984
So, this is really an
extraordinary group of people,
296
00:15:17,050 --> 00:15:20,954
and this just scratches
the surface of the men
297
00:15:21,021 --> 00:15:23,790
who were drawn
to Black Freemasonry
298
00:15:23,857 --> 00:15:25,759
in the 19th century.
299
00:15:26,226 --> 00:15:29,162
And this is where we turn
to another man so drawn.
300
00:15:29,229 --> 00:15:31,231
Back to Lewis Hayden.
301
00:15:31,732 --> 00:15:35,068
Lewis Hayden was born in slavery
in Kentucky.
302
00:15:35,135 --> 00:15:38,238
He lost his first family
to the slave trade.
303
00:15:38,305 --> 00:15:40,007
Never saw them again.
304
00:15:40,073 --> 00:15:42,376
He remarried to this woman,
Harriet Bell,
305
00:15:42,442 --> 00:15:44,278
then Harriet Hayden.
306
00:15:44,344 --> 00:15:46,613
And they resolved that
they would not be separated.
307
00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:47,981
And so, at great risk
308
00:15:48,048 --> 00:15:51,118
and with the aid of two
very brave white abolitionists,
309
00:15:51,185 --> 00:15:55,656
they escaped slavery
and made their way to Boston,
310
00:15:55,722 --> 00:15:58,692
a hotbed
of radical abolitionism.
311
00:15:58,759 --> 00:16:00,994
They very quickly became
key figures
312
00:16:01,061 --> 00:16:02,696
in Boston's Black community.
313
00:16:02,763 --> 00:16:04,398
They sheltered fugitives.
314
00:16:04,464 --> 00:16:07,668
They organized
anti-slavery meetings.
315
00:16:07,734 --> 00:16:11,038
Lewis took to the streets
to rescue fugitive slaves
316
00:16:11,104 --> 00:16:13,574
who'd been seized
under the Fugitive Slave Law
317
00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:16,810
and narrowly escaped prosecution
for the death of a constable
318
00:16:16,877 --> 00:16:20,814
in 1854 after an unsuccessful
raid on the Boston Courthouse
319
00:16:20,881 --> 00:16:24,218
to free the fugitive
Anthony Burns.
320
00:16:24,918 --> 00:16:29,089
This was a world
of violence and conflict,
321
00:16:29,156 --> 00:16:32,392
and in that world,
Hayden was a Christian,
322
00:16:32,459 --> 00:16:33,994
but he saw the worldly churches
323
00:16:34,061 --> 00:16:36,563
as hopelessly corrupted
by slavery.
324
00:16:36,630 --> 00:16:39,666
He was an American,
but he saw the United States
325
00:16:39,733 --> 00:16:43,670
as debased
by racial caste and slavery.
326
00:16:43,737 --> 00:16:48,242
But Freemasonry, he believed,
remained untainted.
327
00:16:48,308 --> 00:16:50,143
It could bind men together,
328
00:16:50,210 --> 00:16:54,281
lift them up, and offer
a model to the wider world.
329
00:16:54,348 --> 00:16:56,683
Hayden became a Freemason
shortly after his arrival
330
00:16:56,750 --> 00:17:01,388
in Boston at the then-renamed
Prince Hall Grand Lodge,
331
00:17:01,455 --> 00:17:04,191
and he remained a devoted member
of the African Lodge of Boston
332
00:17:04,258 --> 00:17:06,493
for the rest of his life.
333
00:17:06,894 --> 00:17:09,229
This just raises a question.
334
00:17:09,296 --> 00:17:13,400
I've just said Lewis,
but what about Harriet?
335
00:17:13,467 --> 00:17:17,838
Hayden and his brethren
were often women's rights men.
336
00:17:17,905 --> 00:17:22,776
In fact, the Black activists
of the 19th-century North--
337
00:17:22,843 --> 00:17:24,645
The Black male activists
of the 19th-century North
338
00:17:24,711 --> 00:17:26,813
were some
of the very few men
339
00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:28,916
who were
women's rights activists
340
00:17:28,982 --> 00:17:31,118
in that place and time.
341
00:17:31,185 --> 00:17:34,254
But they did not--
The question then arises,
342
00:17:34,321 --> 00:17:36,723
"Why did they not insist
that women, too, be allowed
343
00:17:36,790 --> 00:17:38,926
to join Freemasonry?"
344
00:17:39,326 --> 00:17:41,895
And I think the answer is
that while they believed
345
00:17:41,962 --> 00:17:45,432
that women were entitled to
all the rights of citizenship,
346
00:17:45,499 --> 00:17:48,035
they did not understand
Freemasonry as a form
347
00:17:48,101 --> 00:17:51,471
of citizenship, but
rather as a form of leadership.
348
00:17:51,538 --> 00:17:55,342
And leadership was a role
that they, too,
349
00:17:56,109 --> 00:18:00,714
like virtually everyone else,
belonged exclusively to men.
350
00:18:00,781 --> 00:18:03,417
Eventually, the female relatives
of Black Freemasons
351
00:18:03,483 --> 00:18:06,920
would be able to join
the Order of the Eastern Star
352
00:18:06,987 --> 00:18:08,555
Masonic auxiliary.
353
00:18:08,622 --> 00:18:12,860
But the brotherhood remained
a brotherhood.
354
00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:15,929
As the nation expanded west,
355
00:18:15,996 --> 00:18:19,166
Black Freemasons needed to knit
themselves together
356
00:18:19,233 --> 00:18:22,503
and extend their bonds of union
with one another.
357
00:18:22,569 --> 00:18:24,204
And in 1847,
358
00:18:24,271 --> 00:18:28,208
Hayden took part in the creation
of a really ambitious project,
359
00:18:28,275 --> 00:18:31,178
the formation
of the National Grand Lodge,
360
00:18:31,245 --> 00:18:33,914
a new form of Masonic governance
that would assemble
361
00:18:33,981 --> 00:18:37,084
and coordinate the work
of each state's Black lodges
362
00:18:37,150 --> 00:18:40,354
and allow for a regular and
regulated expansion of the order
363
00:18:40,420 --> 00:18:42,923
into the new territories
of the West.
364
00:18:42,990 --> 00:18:44,625
And expand they did.
365
00:18:44,691 --> 00:18:46,360
By the time the Civil War began,
366
00:18:46,426 --> 00:18:49,196
there were perhaps 6,000
or 7,000 Black Freemasons
367
00:18:49,263 --> 00:18:52,366
among the roughly 250,000
free Black people
368
00:18:52,432 --> 00:18:54,668
in the northern states.
369
00:18:56,670 --> 00:18:59,907
This brings me
to the second topic,
370
00:19:01,942 --> 00:19:06,513
to Freemasonry as a world
of ritual and commitment
371
00:19:06,580 --> 00:19:08,515
that promised
nonracial fraternity
372
00:19:08,582 --> 00:19:10,384
among leading men.
373
00:19:12,352 --> 00:19:14,421
While they reached--
While they reached--
374
00:19:14,488 --> 00:19:17,357
While they built a national
network of leading Black men,
375
00:19:17,424 --> 00:19:22,529
Freemasons also reached out
to their white brethren.
376
00:19:22,596 --> 00:19:24,865
They were a small minority
of the population
377
00:19:24,932 --> 00:19:26,099
in the free states.
378
00:19:26,166 --> 00:19:29,203
Again, barely a quarter million
people in 1860,
379
00:19:29,269 --> 00:19:32,372
amid
about 20 million white people.
380
00:19:32,439 --> 00:19:33,540
They lacked rights.
381
00:19:33,607 --> 00:19:34,842
In many places,
382
00:19:34,908 --> 00:19:37,344
they lacked the ability
to move with dignity and ease
383
00:19:37,411 --> 00:19:40,881
through all manner
of public and private spaces.
384
00:19:40,948 --> 00:19:45,886
And they knew that to secure
a place of equality and dignity
385
00:19:45,953 --> 00:19:48,222
and belonging required changing
386
00:19:48,288 --> 00:19:52,693
at least some white people's
hearts and minds.
387
00:19:52,759 --> 00:19:56,597
Where could they turn
in this project?
388
00:19:56,663 --> 00:19:59,900
Most white-led churches
segregated them,
389
00:19:59,967 --> 00:20:01,768
which, indeed, had led
to the formation
390
00:20:01,835 --> 00:20:05,372
of independent Black churches
and denominations.
391
00:20:05,439 --> 00:20:08,775
Most states did not allow them
to vote.
392
00:20:08,842 --> 00:20:10,611
The tiny minority
of white people--
393
00:20:10,677 --> 00:20:13,881
and it was a tiny minority--
who were abolitionists
394
00:20:13,947 --> 00:20:17,384
did not always even agree
that Black people were
395
00:20:17,451 --> 00:20:20,621
or could be their social equals.
396
00:20:20,687 --> 00:20:23,891
These were all betrayals
of universalist principles,
397
00:20:23,957 --> 00:20:25,726
betrayals
of the universalist principles
398
00:20:25,792 --> 00:20:27,694
of the
Declaration of Independence,
399
00:20:27,761 --> 00:20:29,463
of the Christian Church,
400
00:20:29,530 --> 00:20:31,965
and they could make
the future seem bleak
401
00:20:32,032 --> 00:20:34,935
and cold to Black Northerners.
402
00:20:35,836 --> 00:20:37,237
Against this,
403
00:20:37,304 --> 00:20:39,706
some of the leading Black men
of the North
404
00:20:39,773 --> 00:20:41,842
considered Freemasonry's promise
405
00:20:41,909 --> 00:20:45,245
of a true meeting and
conciliation of hearts and minds
406
00:20:45,312 --> 00:20:49,449
without regard
to origin or nation or language.
407
00:20:49,516 --> 00:20:52,920
And they made repeated overtures
to white Masonic bodies
408
00:20:52,986 --> 00:20:56,523
for formal recognition
and rapprochement.
409
00:20:56,590 --> 00:20:59,026
They hoped
that Black and white Masons
410
00:20:59,092 --> 00:21:02,362
might someday work together
to perfect the world,
411
00:21:02,429 --> 00:21:05,365
and this example would help
demolish the racial caste
412
00:21:05,432 --> 00:21:08,669
that dominated
the United States.
413
00:21:09,303 --> 00:21:11,839
Black Masonic intellectuals
considered Freemasonry
414
00:21:11,905 --> 00:21:13,874
a powerful weapon
against racial caste
415
00:21:13,941 --> 00:21:17,277
because it was rooted
in the natural rights tradition,
416
00:21:17,344 --> 00:21:19,613
like the Declaration
of Independence,
417
00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:23,350
but not, crucially, in the
American constitutional order,
418
00:21:23,417 --> 00:21:26,320
which sanctioned
and protected slavery.
419
00:21:26,386 --> 00:21:28,021
It therefore offered up
420
00:21:28,088 --> 00:21:31,425
a powerful potential
alternative venue for claims
421
00:21:31,491 --> 00:21:35,128
to inclusion and claims
to belonging.
422
00:21:35,195 --> 00:21:38,732
And there was some evidence
that this might work.
423
00:21:38,799 --> 00:21:41,535
They were encouraged by the
actions of some white people,
424
00:21:41,602 --> 00:21:44,271
particularly white Europeans.
425
00:21:44,338 --> 00:21:46,573
John S. Rock,
who later was the first,
426
00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:48,342
again, the first Black man
427
00:21:48,408 --> 00:21:50,544
admitted
to the Bar of the Supreme Court,
428
00:21:50,611 --> 00:21:53,247
described being warmly welcomed
by white Freemasons
429
00:21:53,313 --> 00:21:56,250
in Parisian lodges
when he visited France.
430
00:21:56,316 --> 00:21:57,718
And there, he said,
he met Masons
431
00:21:57,784 --> 00:21:59,987
from nearly every part
of the globe,
432
00:22:00,053 --> 00:22:02,155
and also imagined the discomfort
433
00:22:02,222 --> 00:22:04,324
that his presence
in those lodges was causing
434
00:22:04,391 --> 00:22:07,761
the white American visitors
to those lodges.
435
00:22:07,828 --> 00:22:09,096
Not an unfamiliar story
436
00:22:09,162 --> 00:22:12,099
if you know the history
of African Americans in France,
437
00:22:12,165 --> 00:22:13,834
for example.
438
00:22:13,901 --> 00:22:16,136
But Britain was the key.
439
00:22:16,537 --> 00:22:18,805
It was white Britons who had
first extended the hand
440
00:22:18,872 --> 00:22:22,843
of Masonic friendship
to Prince Hall and his band.
441
00:22:22,910 --> 00:22:27,581
And it was Black Freemasonry's
American lineage,
442
00:22:29,082 --> 00:22:32,753
its institutional descent
from the Grand Lodge of England,
443
00:22:32,819 --> 00:22:35,055
that allowed Black Freemasons
to assert
444
00:22:35,122 --> 00:22:40,794
that they stood on equal footing
with white American lodges.
445
00:22:42,095 --> 00:22:44,831
Black Masons also took note of
how the Grand Lodge of England
446
00:22:44,898 --> 00:22:48,435
had responded to the
British abolition of slavery.
447
00:22:48,502 --> 00:22:51,505
Crucially, the
the Grand Lodge of England
448
00:22:51,572 --> 00:22:54,308
had altered its criteria
for Masonic membership
449
00:22:54,374 --> 00:22:58,712
after that time
from the old standard "freeborn"
450
00:22:58,779 --> 00:23:01,582
to a new standard, "free man,"
451
00:23:02,282 --> 00:23:04,318
and this acknowledged
the possibility
452
00:23:04,384 --> 00:23:07,955
that formerly enslaved people
might be deserving
453
00:23:08,021 --> 00:23:10,824
of entering the brotherhood.
454
00:23:11,592 --> 00:23:12,860
Here and there,
455
00:23:12,926 --> 00:23:16,263
white American Freemasons
recognized their Black brethren.
456
00:23:16,330 --> 00:23:17,865
Black Methodist itinerants
457
00:23:17,931 --> 00:23:19,533
traveling along the
Mason-Dixon Line
458
00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:22,035
described white fellow Masons
recognizing them,
459
00:23:22,102 --> 00:23:24,338
helping them escape
suspicious white mobs,
460
00:23:24,404 --> 00:23:28,008
even allowing them to hold
services in white Masonic halls.
461
00:23:28,075 --> 00:23:32,212
Lewis Hayden claimed that it was
a white Deputy U.S. Marshal
462
00:23:32,279 --> 00:23:34,248
honoring
their mutual brotherhood
463
00:23:34,314 --> 00:23:36,216
who warned him
of his impending arrest
464
00:23:36,283 --> 00:23:40,120
after the failed raid
on the courthouse in 1854.
465
00:23:40,187 --> 00:23:41,288
Martin Delany said
466
00:23:41,355 --> 00:23:43,423
that white Kentucky Masons
had recognized him
467
00:23:43,490 --> 00:23:45,726
as a brother in an Ohio lodge.
468
00:23:45,792 --> 00:23:48,028
So, there were signs
that it was possible
469
00:23:48,095 --> 00:23:50,330
that this rapprochement
might happen.
470
00:23:50,397 --> 00:23:52,299
But at the organizational level,
471
00:23:52,366 --> 00:23:54,935
white Masonic organizations
continually rebuffed
472
00:23:55,002 --> 00:23:56,770
Black Masons' overtures,
473
00:23:56,837 --> 00:24:01,708
often denying the legitimacy
of Black Freemasonry entirely.
474
00:24:01,775 --> 00:24:06,146
In fact, throughout the 18th
and 19th and 20th centuries,
475
00:24:06,213 --> 00:24:09,149
white Masonic bodies
repeatedly labeled Black Masons
476
00:24:09,216 --> 00:24:14,254
counterfeit, clandestine,
irregular, or fraudulent.
477
00:24:14,321 --> 00:24:17,491
They refused to consider
their petitions for recognition.
478
00:24:17,558 --> 00:24:20,427
They questioned the legitimacy
of the African Lodge's charter
479
00:24:20,494 --> 00:24:21,728
from England.
480
00:24:21,795 --> 00:24:23,530
They swatted down
those white Masons
481
00:24:23,597 --> 00:24:26,500
who dissented
from that policy of exclusion.
482
00:24:26,567 --> 00:24:28,869
And they returned
over and over
483
00:24:28,936 --> 00:24:33,473
to the restriction
of membership to "freeborn" men.
484
00:24:33,540 --> 00:24:35,576
They explained
that this qualification extended
485
00:24:35,642 --> 00:24:38,779
to those who were born slaves,
but became free
486
00:24:38,846 --> 00:24:42,816
quote, "on the principle that
birth in a servile condition
487
00:24:42,883 --> 00:24:45,285
"is accompanied
by a degradation of mind
488
00:24:45,352 --> 00:24:47,020
"and an abasement of spirit
489
00:24:47,087 --> 00:24:48,989
"which
no subsequent disenthrallment
490
00:24:49,056 --> 00:24:52,726
"can so completely efface
as to render the party qualified
491
00:24:52,793 --> 00:24:55,829
to perform his duties
as a Mason."
492
00:24:55,896 --> 00:25:00,133
In other words,
once a slave, always a slave.
493
00:25:01,168 --> 00:25:05,506
And by the 1850s,
this was a familiar refrain.
494
00:25:05,572 --> 00:25:07,341
As Chief Justice Roger Taney
put it
495
00:25:07,407 --> 00:25:10,744
in the Dred Scott decision
in 1857,
496
00:25:10,811 --> 00:25:12,679
the Founders had
never considered Black people
497
00:25:12,746 --> 00:25:15,015
to be part
of the political community.
498
00:25:15,082 --> 00:25:17,417
They had no rights
which the white man
499
00:25:17,484 --> 00:25:20,821
or the white Mason
was bound to respect.
500
00:25:22,956 --> 00:25:25,526
And this brings us
to part three,
501
00:25:25,592 --> 00:25:29,096
what happened
when slavery came to an end
502
00:25:29,162 --> 00:25:31,098
and when
the governing dispensation
503
00:25:31,164 --> 00:25:33,901
of the United States after 1865,
504
00:25:33,967 --> 00:25:37,104
and especially after 1866
and '68,
505
00:25:37,171 --> 00:25:40,507
became one
of nonracial democracy.
506
00:25:41,708 --> 00:25:45,846
Both of Black Freemasonry's
projects faced new possibilities
507
00:25:45,913 --> 00:25:49,082
and new challenges
after the Civil War.
508
00:25:49,149 --> 00:25:52,319
The project of building
community and fraternity
509
00:25:52,386 --> 00:25:57,291
among Black men
proceeded in complicated ways.
510
00:25:58,559 --> 00:26:02,095
Lewis Hayden traveled south
in 1865
511
00:26:02,162 --> 00:26:05,065
to assess the condition
of the freed people in Virginia
512
00:26:05,132 --> 00:26:06,533
and elsewhere,
513
00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:10,404
and to consider the lodges that
had been established among them
514
00:26:10,470 --> 00:26:15,075
during the occupation of those
places by the Civil War armies.
515
00:26:15,142 --> 00:26:19,813
And he wrote in tones
of some skepticism and worry,
516
00:26:20,414 --> 00:26:22,416
"In the emerging
of nations or people
517
00:26:22,482 --> 00:26:25,252
"from a state of oppression,
more especially
518
00:26:25,319 --> 00:26:27,855
"when the oppressor is allowed
to prey upon them,
519
00:26:27,921 --> 00:26:29,523
"there must be jealousies
520
00:26:29,590 --> 00:26:32,426
and want of confidence
in each other."
521
00:26:32,492 --> 00:26:34,294
In other words, he thought,
522
00:26:34,361 --> 00:26:36,296
slavery had denied
Black Southerners the right
523
00:26:36,363 --> 00:26:40,133
to organize their own lives,
families, and communities,
524
00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:41,468
and newly freed Black people
525
00:26:41,535 --> 00:26:44,638
continued to face
stubborn resistance from whites.
526
00:26:44,705 --> 00:26:49,076
They were understandably
suspicious of one another.
527
00:26:49,142 --> 00:26:50,244
Freemasonry,
528
00:26:50,310 --> 00:26:52,880
to succeed and prosper
under these conditions,
529
00:26:52,946 --> 00:26:56,617
must proceed slowly
and deliberately.
530
00:26:57,417 --> 00:27:00,254
And this raised a question
at the core of the project.
531
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:04,191
How to balance Freemasonry's
universal truths
532
00:27:04,258 --> 00:27:07,027
with its functional exclusivity.
533
00:27:07,094 --> 00:27:11,164
How many men should
become Masons and by what means?
534
00:27:11,231 --> 00:27:13,100
These became pressing issues
535
00:27:13,166 --> 00:27:15,736
as the order moved
into the former slave states,
536
00:27:15,802 --> 00:27:18,305
where free Black people's
numbers in proportion
537
00:27:18,372 --> 00:27:21,708
to the population dwarfed those
of the Northern cities
538
00:27:21,775 --> 00:27:24,711
where Freemasonry
first flourished.
539
00:27:24,778 --> 00:27:28,582
The first Black Masonic lodges
embraced only a few dozen men
540
00:27:28,649 --> 00:27:31,985
at a time,
and even in the late 1820s,
541
00:27:32,653 --> 00:27:35,422
when a Boston Freemason named
John T. Hilton
542
00:27:35,489 --> 00:27:38,859
sought to keep the order alive
under difficult circumstances,
543
00:27:38,926 --> 00:27:43,363
he warned it was not time
for all to be aware of Masonry.
544
00:27:43,430 --> 00:27:45,966
In keeping with long-standing
Masonic tradition,
545
00:27:46,033 --> 00:27:49,002
he thought that men should come
to the order out of conviction,
546
00:27:49,069 --> 00:27:50,971
not mere curiosity.
547
00:27:51,338 --> 00:27:52,940
"Someday," he said,
548
00:27:53,006 --> 00:27:55,976
"when the knowledge of Masonry
shall have become universal,
549
00:27:56,043 --> 00:27:59,947
then will commence
a new era in the moral world."
550
00:28:00,013 --> 00:28:01,882
But that had to happen slowly.
551
00:28:01,949 --> 00:28:05,419
And he was the mentor
to Lewis Hayden,
552
00:28:06,053 --> 00:28:09,223
who similarly envisioned
Freemasonry's march southward
553
00:28:09,289 --> 00:28:10,924
as a careful mobilization
554
00:28:10,991 --> 00:28:13,660
of those already capable
of what Hayden called
555
00:28:13,727 --> 00:28:16,864
"united and harmonious action."
556
00:28:17,865 --> 00:28:21,001
But there was another
Masonic leader of this era
557
00:28:21,068 --> 00:28:23,403
with a different vision.
558
00:28:24,671 --> 00:28:27,841
The free Black Northerner
Richard Howell Gleaves
559
00:28:27,908 --> 00:28:30,777
came to this question
rather differently.
560
00:28:30,844 --> 00:28:31,979
Gleaves had spent--
561
00:28:32,045 --> 00:28:34,014
By the time
the Civil War came to an end,
562
00:28:34,081 --> 00:28:36,950
Gleaves had spent two decades
establishing Masonic lodges
563
00:28:37,017 --> 00:28:40,587
across Pennsylvania, Ohio,
and down the Mississippi Valley,
564
00:28:40,654 --> 00:28:43,123
including even in New Orleans.
565
00:28:43,190 --> 00:28:47,060
And he acted as though
Freemasonry's future
566
00:28:47,127 --> 00:28:51,198
lay in rapid expansion
into the former slave states,
567
00:28:51,265 --> 00:28:54,801
and that he would personally
oversee this in his capacity
568
00:28:54,868 --> 00:28:57,738
as the new president
of the National Grand Lodge,
569
00:28:57,804 --> 00:29:00,774
the Grand Master
of the National Grand Lodge,
570
00:29:00,841 --> 00:29:02,176
and as a man of some means,
571
00:29:02,242 --> 00:29:06,413
who would fund that expansion
out of his own pocket.
572
00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:09,650
Gleaves, in other words,
imagined forging Freemasonry
573
00:29:09,716 --> 00:29:11,785
into a mass-membership
organization
574
00:29:11,852 --> 00:29:14,655
aimed at recruiting
former slaves in large numbers
575
00:29:14,721 --> 00:29:17,658
all across
the former slave states.
576
00:29:17,724 --> 00:29:21,028
And this project had
some success.
577
00:29:21,094 --> 00:29:24,431
By 1867, just two years
after the Civil War,
578
00:29:24,498 --> 00:29:26,967
the National Grand Lodge,
under Gleaves' leadership,
579
00:29:27,034 --> 00:29:31,471
reached its peak with membership
boasting 20 state Grand Lodges,
580
00:29:31,538 --> 00:29:33,273
including newly formed
Grand Lodges
581
00:29:33,340 --> 00:29:35,409
in Virginia and Missouri
and Kentucky,
582
00:29:35,475 --> 00:29:37,344
all former slave states.
583
00:29:37,411 --> 00:29:39,513
All formed
under his direct guidance,
584
00:29:39,580 --> 00:29:42,115
all quickly admitted
to the National Grand Lodge
585
00:29:42,182 --> 00:29:45,419
essentially
on his own authority.
586
00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:48,789
Hayden had been a member
of the National Grand Lodge
587
00:29:48,856 --> 00:29:51,291
since its founding
20 years earlier,
588
00:29:51,358 --> 00:29:53,727
but he did not like what he saw.
589
00:29:53,794 --> 00:29:55,863
He believed that Gleaves
and the National Grand Lodge
590
00:29:55,929 --> 00:29:57,731
were distorting Freemasonry.
591
00:29:57,798 --> 00:30:00,000
They were treating expansion
as an end in itself,
592
00:30:00,067 --> 00:30:02,169
rather than as a means
for unification
593
00:30:02,236 --> 00:30:05,839
and mutual understanding among
the nation's leading Black men.
594
00:30:05,906 --> 00:30:08,408
And political leaders
like Gleaves,
595
00:30:08,475 --> 00:30:09,910
who was, by 1872,
596
00:30:09,977 --> 00:30:13,914
the lieutenant governor of
Reconstruction South Carolina,
597
00:30:13,981 --> 00:30:16,250
naturally
sought mass constituencies,
598
00:30:16,316 --> 00:30:18,519
but Masonry should have
a different
599
00:30:18,585 --> 00:30:21,855
and more sacred view
of the responsibility of people
600
00:30:21,922 --> 00:30:23,023
to one another
601
00:30:23,090 --> 00:30:25,158
and the role
their order was destined to play
602
00:30:25,225 --> 00:30:29,062
in the perfection
of human government.
603
00:30:29,129 --> 00:30:32,165
A civil war began
among Black Freemasons,
604
00:30:32,232 --> 00:30:35,169
with Grand Lodges beginning to
leave the National Grand Lodge
605
00:30:35,235 --> 00:30:37,204
in protest of Gleaves' policies
606
00:30:37,271 --> 00:30:39,239
and new lodges springing up
in those states
607
00:30:39,306 --> 00:30:40,774
that were loyal
to the Grand Lodge.
608
00:30:40,841 --> 00:30:46,747
Thus a conflict of legitimacy
and of organizational heredity.
609
00:30:48,348 --> 00:30:49,683
And it was in sadness
610
00:30:49,750 --> 00:30:52,386
that Lewis Hayden himself
finally forswore
611
00:30:52,452 --> 00:30:56,256
and abandoned
the National Grand Lodge.
612
00:30:57,124 --> 00:31:00,194
While this conflict was ongoing,
613
00:31:00,260 --> 00:31:02,763
Hayden and others
continued to reach out--
614
00:31:02,829 --> 00:31:05,599
the second part
of the Reconstruction project--
615
00:31:05,666 --> 00:31:09,036
reach out
to white Masonic bodies.
616
00:31:09,102 --> 00:31:14,641
Reconstruction brought universal
national birthright citizenship,
617
00:31:14,708 --> 00:31:16,610
and with it, the possibility
618
00:31:16,677 --> 00:31:19,046
that racial caste
might fade away,
619
00:31:19,112 --> 00:31:21,081
just as slavery had.
620
00:31:22,482 --> 00:31:24,351
One leading
Black Masonic intellectual
621
00:31:24,418 --> 00:31:26,553
foresaw "the auspicious era
622
00:31:26,620 --> 00:31:30,424
"when the genius of
universal Masonry shall trample
623
00:31:30,490 --> 00:31:34,261
"in the dust
the foul incubus of caste,
624
00:31:34,328 --> 00:31:36,163
"and bring our oppressors
625
00:31:36,230 --> 00:31:38,732
"to the true knowledge
of the cosmopolitan
626
00:31:38,799 --> 00:31:42,035
"and humanitarian ideas
which embraces all
627
00:31:42,102 --> 00:31:45,973
"without regard to color or race
in a common union
628
00:31:46,039 --> 00:31:47,174
"by the still stronger
629
00:31:47,241 --> 00:31:50,244
"and more indissoluble ties
of a common interest
630
00:31:50,310 --> 00:31:52,546
and a common brotherhood."
631
00:31:52,613 --> 00:31:53,847
That's about as strong
a statement
632
00:31:53,914 --> 00:31:57,317
of Reconstruction optimism
and universality
633
00:31:57,384 --> 00:32:00,053
as one could want or imagine.
634
00:32:00,754 --> 00:32:03,991
Lewis Hayden aspired
to that vision as well,
635
00:32:04,057 --> 00:32:06,393
and he took hope in acts
of recognition
636
00:32:06,460 --> 00:32:08,495
across the color line.
637
00:32:08,562 --> 00:32:09,663
For example,
638
00:32:09,730 --> 00:32:11,465
the Massachusetts
Republican governor's
639
00:32:11,532 --> 00:32:14,701
formal praise for Black Masons'
support of the Union cause
640
00:32:14,768 --> 00:32:16,203
during the war.
641
00:32:16,270 --> 00:32:19,706
And the Prince Hall Grand Lodge
of Massachusetts
642
00:32:19,773 --> 00:32:22,809
made a petition
under Lewis Hayden's hand
643
00:32:22,876 --> 00:32:24,878
to the white Grand Lodge
of Massachusetts
644
00:32:24,945 --> 00:32:27,481
for mutual recognition
and fellowship.
645
00:32:27,548 --> 00:32:30,184
And that petition,
by the late 1860s,
646
00:32:30,250 --> 00:32:32,252
was working its way
through committee
647
00:32:32,319 --> 00:32:35,789
in the white Grand Lodge
of Massachusetts.
648
00:32:35,856 --> 00:32:38,759
Hayden believed
that as public breaches
649
00:32:38,825 --> 00:32:42,162
of racial caste multiplied
in the postwar world,
650
00:32:42,229 --> 00:32:43,830
white Masons would see the light
651
00:32:43,897 --> 00:32:46,433
that they'd previously
only glimpsed through the haze
652
00:32:46,500 --> 00:32:48,702
of racial proscription.
653
00:32:48,769 --> 00:32:50,370
The victory over the Confederacy
654
00:32:50,437 --> 00:32:54,107
and over slavery had thoroughly
delegitimized pro-slavery
655
00:32:54,174 --> 00:32:56,577
as a political position.
656
00:32:56,643 --> 00:32:58,278
Hayden thought
that if white Masons
657
00:32:58,345 --> 00:32:59,880
now rejected Black men
658
00:32:59,947 --> 00:33:02,583
simply because they
had once been slaves,
659
00:33:02,649 --> 00:33:05,385
they'd be working
against the emancipating spirit
660
00:33:05,452 --> 00:33:07,721
of the nation and the age.
661
00:33:07,788 --> 00:33:09,389
And that, it seemed to Hayden,
662
00:33:09,456 --> 00:33:11,792
was to, quote, "lead
the Masonic fraternity
663
00:33:11,859 --> 00:33:16,196
against the government
of the United States."
664
00:33:17,164 --> 00:33:21,869
But unfortunately, that's
what seemed to be happening.
665
00:33:21,935 --> 00:33:23,504
In the late 1860s,
666
00:33:23,570 --> 00:33:25,873
when a German lodge announced
its plan
667
00:33:25,939 --> 00:33:28,442
to recognize
the National Grand Lodge,
668
00:33:28,509 --> 00:33:31,078
a white New York lodge
protested.
669
00:33:31,144 --> 00:33:35,883
It warned that such recognition
would lead to violence.
670
00:33:35,949 --> 00:33:37,951
It explained that
many Black Masons in the South
671
00:33:38,018 --> 00:33:39,620
were former slaves
672
00:33:39,686 --> 00:33:42,322
between whom and the whites
"there is irreconcilable
673
00:33:42,389 --> 00:33:45,726
"and eradicable repugnance
to social equality.
674
00:33:45,792 --> 00:33:48,428
"A persistent attempt
to enforce this equality
675
00:33:48,495 --> 00:33:51,198
"would be very likely to result
in the destruction of Masonry
676
00:33:51,265 --> 00:33:53,000
"in the United States
677
00:33:53,066 --> 00:33:56,703
"or a war of races,
ending in the extermination
678
00:33:56,770 --> 00:33:58,739
of the Negro race."
679
00:34:00,274 --> 00:34:02,609
Lewis Hayden was aghast.
680
00:34:02,676 --> 00:34:04,912
Rhetoric like that constituted,
he thought,
681
00:34:04,978 --> 00:34:07,414
not just a prediction
of racial violence,
682
00:34:07,481 --> 00:34:09,650
but an incentive to it.
683
00:34:09,716 --> 00:34:12,219
He asked how Masons
could square this call
684
00:34:12,286 --> 00:34:15,389
to violence
with their principles.
685
00:34:15,455 --> 00:34:18,926
But the answers lay
frighteningly close to home.
686
00:34:18,992 --> 00:34:21,428
In 1865,
President Andrew Johnson
687
00:34:21,495 --> 00:34:23,931
had made a similar prediction
of race war
688
00:34:23,997 --> 00:34:26,633
if Black Americans
insisted on equality.
689
00:34:26,700 --> 00:34:28,635
And in the years after 1865,
690
00:34:28,702 --> 00:34:31,772
Johnson had betrayed
freed people's hopes
691
00:34:31,839 --> 00:34:33,106
that he would be
Abraham Lincoln's
692
00:34:33,173 --> 00:34:34,608
worthy successor.
693
00:34:34,675 --> 00:34:37,177
Johnson had sided repeatedly
with the former slaveholders
694
00:34:37,244 --> 00:34:38,812
of the South
and against freed people
695
00:34:38,879 --> 00:34:40,647
and their Republican allies,
696
00:34:40,714 --> 00:34:43,951
even as former Confederates
rioted against freed people,
697
00:34:44,017 --> 00:34:46,854
organized the Ku Klux Klan,
and sought to deny political
698
00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:48,388
and civil rights.
699
00:34:48,455 --> 00:34:50,123
Yet in 1867,
700
00:34:50,591 --> 00:34:53,827
as Johnson's intransigence
neared its apex,
701
00:34:53,894 --> 00:34:55,729
the white Grand Lodge
of Massachusetts
702
00:34:55,796 --> 00:34:58,398
hosted the president,
their fellow Mason,
703
00:34:58,465 --> 00:35:02,669
at the dedication
of their new Boston temple.
704
00:35:02,736 --> 00:35:05,706
Hayden sublimated
his rage and dismay
705
00:35:05,772 --> 00:35:09,109
into an apocalyptic fantasy
in which white Masons
706
00:35:09,176 --> 00:35:13,981
actually perpetrated
a fratricidal war of races.
707
00:35:14,047 --> 00:35:17,217
In a pamphlet bearing
that phrase as a subtitle,
708
00:35:17,284 --> 00:35:19,219
he thought back
to the horrific events
709
00:35:19,286 --> 00:35:21,355
of the New York City draft riots
710
00:35:21,421 --> 00:35:25,859
just five years before, the
pogrom against Black New Yorkers
711
00:35:25,926 --> 00:35:29,730
that had left so many dead
and injured.
712
00:35:29,796 --> 00:35:34,635
And he imagined it as the work
of the city's white Masons.
713
00:35:34,701 --> 00:35:38,071
He saw their prediction
or advice of a war of races
714
00:35:38,138 --> 00:35:40,507
inciting low white men
to a jealous rage
715
00:35:40,574 --> 00:35:43,076
at Black men's
progress and equality
716
00:35:43,143 --> 00:35:46,013
and bringing a riot against
the city's Black citizens.
717
00:35:46,079 --> 00:35:48,982
And in this imagined scenario,
718
00:35:49,883 --> 00:35:54,521
Hayden imagined
these culpable white Masons,
719
00:35:54,588 --> 00:35:56,857
the ones
who'd inspired the draft riots,
720
00:35:56,924 --> 00:36:01,328
leaving the lodge to engage in
the contest and in their haste,
721
00:36:01,395 --> 00:36:04,831
not even pausing to remove
their white aprons--
722
00:36:04,898 --> 00:36:06,834
emblems of purity.
723
00:36:06,900 --> 00:36:09,570
Those emblems, those aprons
attract the attention
724
00:36:09,636 --> 00:36:12,973
of a fleeing Black Mason,
who seeks their aid.
725
00:36:13,040 --> 00:36:16,844
But instead of aiding him,
they stab him.
726
00:36:17,945 --> 00:36:19,813
Crying out, "War of races,"
727
00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:22,516
the Masons murder the man
and the brother's lifeblood
728
00:36:22,583 --> 00:36:24,251
is wiped upon that apron
729
00:36:24,318 --> 00:36:28,655
which drew him instinctively
to his murderer.
730
00:36:29,223 --> 00:36:32,459
Hayden was mourning
more than the exclusion
731
00:36:32,526 --> 00:36:34,995
from a New York lodge room.
732
00:36:35,362 --> 00:36:37,130
His hope had been that white
733
00:36:37,197 --> 00:36:38,699
and Black Masons would come
together
734
00:36:38,765 --> 00:36:42,202
to fulfill the spirit of the era
and of the order,
735
00:36:42,269 --> 00:36:45,339
moving the world closer
to true brotherhood.
736
00:36:45,405 --> 00:36:48,609
This story that
he now offered in his pamphlet,
737
00:36:48,675 --> 00:36:51,612
tacking back and forth between
the past of the draft riot
738
00:36:51,678 --> 00:36:55,349
and the horrific future
imagining of a war of races,
739
00:36:55,415 --> 00:36:57,451
between the lodge room
and the streets,
740
00:36:57,518 --> 00:37:00,387
between the words of Freemasons
and the deeds of men,
741
00:37:00,454 --> 00:37:02,389
all of this
showed the opposite.
742
00:37:02,456 --> 00:37:04,191
Masonic influence deployed
743
00:37:04,258 --> 00:37:06,793
as an instrument
of racial terror.
744
00:37:06,860 --> 00:37:09,897
The horror of the story
was not just the violence.
745
00:37:09,963 --> 00:37:11,832
It was that he saw white Masons
746
00:37:11,899 --> 00:37:14,268
employing
the sacred institution,
747
00:37:14,334 --> 00:37:17,371
its ancient signs, and
its worldly influence to ends
748
00:37:17,437 --> 00:37:19,173
that were precisely opposite
those
749
00:37:19,239 --> 00:37:22,042
of true Masonic brotherhood.
750
00:37:23,744 --> 00:37:24,878
Hayden's petition
751
00:37:24,945 --> 00:37:28,549
to the Grand Lodge
of Massachusetts came to naught.
752
00:37:28,615 --> 00:37:31,285
The brothers rejected them
as irregular,
753
00:37:31,351 --> 00:37:34,755
leading Hayden to protest
in another pamphlet.
754
00:37:34,821 --> 00:37:38,926
And here, he shared the support
of a rare white dissident
755
00:37:38,992 --> 00:37:42,329
against this proscription,
Brother Jacob Norton,
756
00:37:42,396 --> 00:37:45,399
who shared his vision
of the brotherly future
757
00:37:45,465 --> 00:37:47,501
and an imagination of a future
758
00:37:47,568 --> 00:37:49,403
in which white and Black
Freemasons would, indeed,
759
00:37:49,469 --> 00:37:54,041
not just share brotherhood,
but share lodge together.
760
00:37:54,107 --> 00:37:55,642
But this was not to be.
761
00:37:55,709 --> 00:37:58,145
Not in Lewis Hayden's lifetime.
762
00:37:58,212 --> 00:37:59,880
He died in 1889,
763
00:38:00,347 --> 00:38:02,382
his massive funeral procession
through Boston
764
00:38:02,449 --> 00:38:05,285
led by the state's
Black Masonic bodies.
765
00:38:05,352 --> 00:38:06,987
Frederick Douglass attended.
766
00:38:07,054 --> 00:38:08,622
So did the governor
of Massachusetts.
767
00:38:08,689 --> 00:38:11,058
And so did the mayor of Boston.
768
00:38:11,124 --> 00:38:15,662
And the Black Masons of Boston
soldiered on.
769
00:38:15,729 --> 00:38:19,900
In 1907, they celebrated
the anniversary of Prince Hall,
770
00:38:19,967 --> 00:38:23,537
their founder's, death
by the erection of a monument
771
00:38:23,604 --> 00:38:27,741
at Copp's Hill Burial Ground
on Beacon Hill.
772
00:38:29,176 --> 00:38:31,278
Freemasonry
and other fraternal associations
773
00:38:31,345 --> 00:38:34,214
continued to attract
self-identified leading men
774
00:38:34,281 --> 00:38:37,684
and increasingly, women;
to bring them together in local,
775
00:38:37,751 --> 00:38:39,186
state, and national bodies;
776
00:38:39,253 --> 00:38:40,988
and to tie
their organizational lives
777
00:38:41,054 --> 00:38:43,290
more closely together.
778
00:38:43,624 --> 00:38:45,225
African American
Masonic orders
779
00:38:45,292 --> 00:38:46,493
played important roles
780
00:38:46,560 --> 00:38:48,829
in the 20th century movements
for educational,
781
00:38:48,896 --> 00:38:51,431
political, and civil rights.
782
00:38:51,498 --> 00:38:52,866
At the state level,
783
00:38:52,933 --> 00:38:56,103
Grand Lodges organized to demand
better educational opportunities
784
00:38:56,170 --> 00:38:57,671
and worked together
with other orders
785
00:38:57,738 --> 00:39:01,074
to demand access to the ballot
in southern states.
786
00:39:01,141 --> 00:39:04,444
From the 1920s on,
leading Masons publicly demanded
787
00:39:04,511 --> 00:39:07,214
federal
antilynching legislation.
788
00:39:07,281 --> 00:39:09,917
The first African American
Congressman from the North,
789
00:39:09,983 --> 00:39:12,519
Oscar De Priest,
elected in 1928,
790
00:39:12,586 --> 00:39:14,688
was an Illinois Mason.
791
00:39:14,755 --> 00:39:16,356
In the 1950s,
792
00:39:16,423 --> 00:39:19,560
Georgia Masons in particular
provided space and funds
793
00:39:19,626 --> 00:39:22,663
for the NAACP and the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference
794
00:39:22,729 --> 00:39:26,266
as they developed
civil rights strategies.
795
00:39:26,333 --> 00:39:28,902
Many leading figures
in the post-World War II
796
00:39:28,969 --> 00:39:31,939
Black freedom movement
were lifelong Masons.
797
00:39:32,005 --> 00:39:35,642
In other words,
the order survived and prospered
798
00:39:35,709 --> 00:39:37,578
and helped give life
to the freedom dreams
799
00:39:37,644 --> 00:39:39,780
of later generations.
800
00:39:40,581 --> 00:39:43,584
By the late 20th century,
the civil rights campaigns
801
00:39:43,650 --> 00:39:45,953
Black Freemasonry
had ardently supported
802
00:39:46,019 --> 00:39:49,256
bore long-sought fruit--
mutual recognition
803
00:39:49,323 --> 00:39:52,392
with many state-level
white Masonic bodies.
804
00:39:52,459 --> 00:39:54,461
By 2010, in most states,
805
00:39:54,528 --> 00:39:56,830
including several
in the former Confederacy,
806
00:39:56,897 --> 00:40:00,300
white and Black Masonic bodies
had recognized one another.
807
00:40:00,367 --> 00:40:02,436
Some of the ceremonies
marking these occasions
808
00:40:02,503 --> 00:40:05,272
recalled the order's
long history of racial division
809
00:40:05,339 --> 00:40:08,709
as a way of beginning
to heal those ruptures.
810
00:40:08,775 --> 00:40:13,046
In Massachusetts, the birthplace
of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge,
811
00:40:13,113 --> 00:40:16,783
that process unfolded
over generations.
812
00:40:16,850 --> 00:40:19,853
In 1947, the white Grand Lodge
of the commonwealth
813
00:40:19,920 --> 00:40:23,056
actually voted to recognize
their Black brethren,
814
00:40:23,123 --> 00:40:26,126
but then, under pressure
from white Grand Lodges
815
00:40:26,193 --> 00:40:27,628
in many other states,
816
00:40:27,694 --> 00:40:30,564
rescinded their recognition
a few years later.
817
00:40:30,631 --> 00:40:32,733
It was not until the mid 1990s
818
00:40:32,799 --> 00:40:36,870
that they finally restored
that recognition.
819
00:40:36,937 --> 00:40:40,607
And then, on the morning
of May 10, 2003,
820
00:40:41,842 --> 00:40:44,611
the officers of the white
Grand Lodge of Massachusetts
821
00:40:44,678 --> 00:40:47,214
assembled with the state's
Prince Hall Grand Lodge
822
00:40:47,281 --> 00:40:51,051
to mark their formal
reconciliation with a pair
823
00:40:51,118 --> 00:40:54,021
of shared graveside observances.
824
00:40:54,087 --> 00:40:56,757
First, they met at the tomb
of the 18th century Mason
825
00:40:56,823 --> 00:40:59,426
Paul Revere
in the Old Granary Burial Ground
826
00:40:59,493 --> 00:41:01,562
just off the Boston Common.
827
00:41:01,628 --> 00:41:04,665
Immediately afterward,
they reassembled up Beacon Hill
828
00:41:04,731 --> 00:41:07,901
at Copp's Hill monument
to Prince Hall himself.
829
00:41:07,968 --> 00:41:09,303
During the morning's event,
830
00:41:09,369 --> 00:41:11,104
the Black and white brethren
initially stood
831
00:41:11,171 --> 00:41:12,306
in segregated groups,
832
00:41:12,372 --> 00:41:15,275
but soon, they began
to mingle with one another,
833
00:41:15,342 --> 00:41:17,644
and after the last ceremony
was completed
834
00:41:17,711 --> 00:41:19,546
at the graveside of Prince Hall,
835
00:41:19,613 --> 00:41:22,082
they enthusiastically
exchanged ritual handshakes
836
00:41:22,149 --> 00:41:25,886
across the color line that
had so often set them at odds.
837
00:41:25,953 --> 00:41:29,356
I was there that day,
and standing at some distance
838
00:41:29,423 --> 00:41:31,491
watching these ceremonies
unfold,
839
00:41:31,558 --> 00:41:34,761
and at the conclusion
of the graveside service
840
00:41:34,828 --> 00:41:37,130
at Prince Hall's grave,
841
00:41:37,197 --> 00:41:40,767
there was a great spirit of joy
in the air.
842
00:41:40,834 --> 00:41:44,972
And over the course
of the afternoon, I had--
843
00:41:45,906 --> 00:41:48,909
There was a Black man
about my age.
844
00:41:48,976 --> 00:41:51,245
This was quite a few years ago.
845
00:41:51,311 --> 00:41:53,680
There was a Black man about
my age also observing things.
846
00:41:53,747 --> 00:41:56,917
And we kind of recognized
one another
847
00:41:56,984 --> 00:42:00,153
as belonging
to the same... lodge?
848
00:42:00,220 --> 00:42:01,555
We're both historians,
849
00:42:01,622 --> 00:42:03,991
and we just knew,
looking at each other.
850
00:42:04,057 --> 00:42:05,993
And we introduced ourselves
to each other,
851
00:42:06,059 --> 00:42:09,162
and we sort of spent the day
following the Freemasons around
852
00:42:09,229 --> 00:42:13,600
as they performed
these ceremonies of recognition.
853
00:42:13,667 --> 00:42:17,104
And so, he and I
were standing together
854
00:42:17,171 --> 00:42:21,675
as the ceremonies concluded
on Copp's Hill.
855
00:42:21,742 --> 00:42:26,547
And as they did, Freemasons
were exchanging grips
856
00:42:26,613 --> 00:42:28,815
and they were extremely excited
857
00:42:28,882 --> 00:42:31,318
about what had just taken place
between them,
858
00:42:31,385 --> 00:42:34,555
and looking around
for more people to greet
859
00:42:34,621 --> 00:42:36,056
and celebrate with.
860
00:42:36,123 --> 00:42:37,925
And one man,
861
00:42:37,991 --> 00:42:41,795
an elderly Black man
in Masonic regalia,
862
00:42:43,330 --> 00:42:46,166
smiled, looked, and saw
the two of us and approached us.
863
00:42:46,233 --> 00:42:50,838
And as he got close,
he realized, "Oh, not Masons,"
864
00:42:50,904 --> 00:42:54,007
smiled, and turned around,
and my friend and I--
865
00:42:54,074 --> 00:42:55,809
My new friend and I
looked at each other
866
00:42:55,876 --> 00:42:57,744
and realized,
like, the issue was not--
867
00:42:57,811 --> 00:42:59,646
The issue was
not Black and white here.
868
00:42:59,713 --> 00:43:01,281
The issue was,
we weren't Freemasons.
869
00:43:01,348 --> 00:43:03,584
And we considered--
Both of us considered that
870
00:43:03,650 --> 00:43:06,153
the great triumph
of this moment.
871
00:43:06,220 --> 00:43:08,422
And so, with that,
I just want to leave you
872
00:43:08,488 --> 00:43:10,824
where Lewis Hayden
wanted to leave you.
873
00:43:10,891 --> 00:43:13,493
"Yours for the rights of man."
874
00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:15,596
And I'm very happy
to take your questions.
875
00:43:15,662 --> 00:43:17,264
Thank you.
876
00:43:17,331 --> 00:43:19,333
[audience applauds]