Today, thanks to an African-American abolitionist, Prince Hall, many African Americans belong to a group of Masons. Known as the father of Black Freemasonry, Prince Hall was well known as a politically active abolitionist and activist who fought for the protection of free blacks in the North. After the Revolutionary War, he founded the first black Masonic lodge in the United States but this turned out to be a tough process. Later, in 1791, the Prince Hall Grand Lodge was founded to govern the three then existing black Masonic lodges. During the years of Reconstruction, Prince Hall Masonry was then a small fraternity but numbers increased by the early 20th century.

Source: The North Africa Journal September 02, 2018 11:37 UTC