Walkes discusses two entities that have Prince Hall origins but are no longer in amity with the Prince Hall Solidarity: the National Grand Lodge and the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Florida.
We can all talk about Egyptian mysteries and Freemasonry in the Mother land Africa, but in this country, our Masonic blood lines must go back to the British Isles.
By 1877 we were under the impression that the National Grand Lodge had died, as all of the bodies which was a part of the Compact had left it. However the 1877 and 1878 proceedings of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Ohio prove without a shadow of a doubt that the National Grand Lodge was not dissolved in 1877 but was alive and active.
ADDRESS
BEFORE THE CONFERENCE OF PRINCE HALL GRAND MASTERS WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.
BY
JOSEPH A. WALKES, JR FPS
Grand Masters and Brethren, I have been invited to the Conference by Conference President Deary Vaughn. I am here not only as the President of the Phylaxis Society, but as a Masonic historian to lay some facts before you.
To set some guidelines, I want to stress, that I will not answer or respond to anything that I have written over the last thirty years, or anything else outside of the paper that I am going to read to you. I am not here to be judged by anyone, on any subject outside of the topic that I was asked to present.
This paper will deal with the historical affairs in Florida and also the National Grand Lodge or Compact. I am not hear to judge anyone or anything, but merely to present some historical facts. If you need to talk to me privately, I have no problems with that. But that is what it will have to be private. These are the guidelines I am asking that you follow.
First some basics. Many who have read a number of my books, have noted that I often talk about Masonic Common law, and many are not sure exactly what I mean by it. So let me give you Judge Roscoe Pound's definition, which I have always accepted. He writes, "I accept Masonic Common Law in the stricter sense to be the body of tradition and doctrine, developed in eighteenth century Masonry, which is of such long standing, is so universal , and is so well attested that, although it lacks the absolute authority of the Landmarks, it stands at the foundation of our Masonic legal system." I will not go into the subject of Landmarks, because they mean different things to different people. No one can agree on what the Landmarks are.
Second, There is a well known maxim of the law which says, every innovation occasions more harm and disarrangement by its novelty than benefit by its actually utility. This maxim is peculiarly applicable to Freemasonry, whose system is opposed to all innovation. Some one wrote that innovation is treason, and saps the fabric of the Order. We find in the installation charges of the Master of a lodge affirming that "it is not in the power of any man or body of men to make innovations in the body of Masonry." On the whole, the spirit of Freemasonry, so antagonistic to innovation, has been successfully maintained since 1717, and we must wonder at the few changes which has been brought about by these many years.
However this may not take into account the Black Experience in America. Saying all of this, leads me to this conclusion: That in order to be a regular Masonic body, that body must trace its blood lines to a Masonic authority. In America that authority comes from the British Isle, that is, England, Scotland or Ireland. We can all talk about Egyptian mysteries and Freemasonry in the Mother land Africa, but in this country, our Masonic blood lines must go back to the British Isles.
In a word, one can not trace its blood lines to Detroit, or Chicago, or New York, or New Jersey or any other state within the United States. That is Masonic common Law. One can put an apron on a Boy Scout Troop, obligate them, and call them Freemasons, but common sense will tell you that they are not Freemasons. When we call some one non-Prince Hall Mason, we insult our selves, because if they are not Prince Hall Masons or apart of the mainstream Freemasons in America, they are not Masonic. What you have is Black on Black crime, and those who say we don't need to be recognized by the whites, that we need to recognize our own Black brothers, miss the point, as race, has no bearing on this subject. You are either Masonic or you are not.
Let me move on to Florida. This comes from the writings of my dear friend Harry A. Williamson. Florida is the twenty-first Grand Lodge in date of original establishment. The correct title of this grand jurisdiction is "Union Grand Lodge of Florida & Belize, Central America, Jurisdiction, Inc." It was established in the city of Jacksonville on June 17, 1870. In his history, William H. Grimshaw who has often found to be mistaken, wrote that the first three lodges constituted in the state were Solomon No. 50, St. John's No. 51 and Mount Moriah No. 52, each receiving a warrant bearing the date of March 2, 1867, and that they were formed under the jurisdiction of Hiram Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. At present there is a Solomon Lodge No. 6 in Tallahassee (there seems to be listed two lodges with that number) and St. John Lodge No. 14, at Jacksonville. These two could be the one's mentioned by Grimshaw.
The Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Ohio in 1871 proceedings states that the first Grand Master of Florida was J. Robert Love. However in the Chapter pertaining to Georgia, it is noted that a brother by that same name is quoted as having been the first Grand Master of Georgia. It also says that the Grand Secretary Charles F. Dailey received his first three degrees in a lodge in Liverpool, England, was arched in Scotland in the Scottish Rite, and took his knighthood at Greenlock, Scotland. The remainder of his degrees were taken in France after which he returned to his native home, St. Thomas, West Indies where he took membership under the Grand Orient of France.
Grimshaw also writes that Pennsylvania also warranted Harmony No. 53, which is now No. 1 in Jacksonville, and Prince Hall No. 54. There is no Prince Hall Lodge shown today in Florida, however the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts had a Lodge as late as 1874 in Jacksonville, it carried the number 15.
My Grand Lodge of Missouri informs us in 1872 that a Grand Lodge was erected in Florida on June 17, 1870, but in the city of Tallahassee, by representatives of Pennsylvania "11th Street Masons" and representatives of the National Grand Lodge.
Now to look at the events that took place, there was a Rev. John H. Dickerson, who held the office as Grand Master of that jurisdiction for many years and it is said that he became a virtual dictator in everything pertaining to the Craft and its allied orders throughout the jurisdiction; that he may have adopted procedures and prerogatives unheard of in Freemasonry, and from this came the basic schism within that jurisdiction with the result that a group of lodges withdrew and organized another body under title of Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Florida, and in time incorporated itself under that laws of that state.
It is interesting what Williamson writes, and I quote: "The schism is now many years duration and as the probable instigator of the trouble may have long since passed along the way of all flesh, the Freemasons in Florida might with profit emulate the example set by the rival Grand Lodges in England about one hundred and nineteen years ago, bury their differences and unite into one organization for the benefit of Masonic posterity in that territory," Unquote. Brother Williamson wrote that August 24th, 1934.
Let us turn to the National Grand Lodge. In my book, A Prince Hall Masonic Quiz Book, I presented in Part 3 what I would consider an accurate history of the National Grand Lodge or Compact. I noted that "The National Grand Lodge was a phenomenon of Prince Hall Freemasonry. Defining it within strict confines of Masonry is impossible, but with the circumscription of the Black experience it is somewhat understandable. It is, I wrote< as much an American peculiarity, oddity, and curiosity as the doctrine of "Exclusive Territorial Jurisdiction" or Rob Morris's Conservators Movement which swept mainstream American Masonry. Neither can be defined within the strict confines of Masonic law or fully justified, both are debatably un-Masonic and yet they happened."
I listed all of the dates that our present day Prince Hall Grand Lodges pulled out of the National Grand Lodge. By 1877 we were under the impression that the National Grand Lodge had died, as all of the bodies which was a part of the Compact had left it. However the 1877 and 1878 proceedings of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Ohio prove without a shadow of a doubt that the National Grand Lodge was not dissolved in 1877 but was alive and active. After its triennial session of the National Grand Lodge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , 16 to 18 May 1877, it addressed a letter to all of the African-American Grand Lodges both states that was under the National and those called "State Rights" or independent Grand Lodge, now called Prince Hall Grand Lodges, inviting them all to send delegates to a National Convention to be held in Wilmington, Delaware , in May 1878 for the purpose of discussing and if possible settling the difference between the National and the so called "States Right" factions. A copy of this letter appears in the 1877 Proceedings of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Ohio. Ohio sent delegates to this convention in Wilmington. Two newspapers printed accounts of both the 1877 and 1880 sessions (this was the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, 18 May 1877 and Every Evening, Wilmington, Delaware, 13 May 1880.) This information came from John Sherman a anti-Prince Hall historian from Boston.
There was a book published "The History of the National Grand Lodge by Matthew Brock, a Past National Grand Master and designated Historian of the National Grand Lodge. He wrote: "…from 1847 to 1877, the spread of Masonry amongst Colored people advanced very rapidly on account of the impetus provided by the former National Grand Lodge. But unfortunately, this was also the period which the fabric , which was weaved by the founders of the National Grand Lodge, would be mottled with wounds and gore emanating from … dissensions within the Colored Masonic fraternity. As a heritage of these historical cleavages, Masonic authors affiliated with Lodges and Grand Lodges opposed to the National Grand Lodge, have chosen to ignore historical facts which do not speak favorably of their present allegiance. In fact some have in cases "invented" or fabricated facts for which they could not being forth original records to corroborate their affirmations, and in general , have adopted a most unscientific, unhistorical, and dishonest approach to the events of the time, which has given both the Black race and its Masonry a bad name. All this has been done by the so-called "Prince Hall American Masons" to erase the scar of illegitimacy form their organizations, and to degrade the National Grand Lodge." Unquote.
While Matthew Brock may be correct in some of the things he writes, he utterly fails to address the actions of the then National Grand Lodge Secretary and later National Grand Lodge Grand Master George Levere of Knoxville, TN, in continuing the Grand Lodge, when all that made up its body, withdrew, and the question concerning his election to that office, also is in question.. Brock also fails to note what actions the then National Grand Master Richard Gleaves took in dissolving the National Grand Lodge, which he called an irregular group.
I am not here to debate the issue, but this is left to the leadership of Prince Hall Freemasonry to decide. The Phylaxis Society monitors all web sites on the internet that concerns Prince Hall Freemasonry, and many have been burning up the air waves, calling the National Grand Lodge clandestine, and all manner of names. However, I have publicly stated that you can not call your "Grandmother" clandestine, without calling yourself irregular. While some within the National Grand Lodge have involved itself in the affairs of a number of pure bogus Black Grand Lodge, which is a worry, however the fact remains to be answered what are we going to do with the National Grand Lodge? Like the events in Florida we come from the same source, we trace our blood lines to Prince Hall and African Lodge 459, then what is to be done. In America each Grand Lodge is sovereign, and no one body can warrant a Grand Lodge. Grand Lodges come from three Lodges who in turn can trace their blood lines to a Masonic authority.
And so I leave you with the great question of the year. The Phylaxis Society maintains the largest Prince Hall Masonic Collection in the world, and we stand by to assist the Conference in any way we can.
Thank you.