Prince Hall
Prince Hall (circa 1735 – December 4, 1807) is recognized as a pivotal figure in the history of black Freemasonry and the fight for African American rights. Born in Barbados, he later settled in Boston, where he became a respected leader in the free black community. Hall's early life included training as a leatherworker, and he eventually owned a shop and a catering business with his wife, Flora. His pursuit of membership in the Freemasons began in 1774 when he was denied entry, leading him to establish the first African Lodge in 1775 with the support of Masonic soldiers.
Hall’s advocacy extended beyond fraternal membership; he actively sought political rights and education for African Americans, petitioning for the end of slavery and support for a colony in Africa for free blacks. He also opened a school in 1800 to educate black children. Although his efforts faced many obstacles, Hall's legacy includes the establishment of a network of African American lodges that honored his commitment to community and equality. His work laid a foundation for future generations in the struggle for civil rights and the advancement of African American institutions.
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Subject Terms
Prince Hall
Abolitionist and civic leader
- Born: c. 1735
- Birthplace: Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies
- Died: December 4, 1807
- Place of death: Boston, Massachusetts
Hall was the founder of black Freemasonry and an activist for African American civil rights and education. He spent more than three decades struggling to achieve freedom, justice, and human rights for African Americans.
Early Life
The early life of Prince Hall, the founder of black Freemasonry, is a mystery. He was born in Barbados circa 1735. Massachusetts leather dresser William Hall, Hall’s master from 1749 until 1770, taught him leatherworking. By 1765, Hall was working as a journeyman—a skilled, trusted tradesman. In April, 1770, Hall received his letter of manumission and took his former master’s last name.
Hall married Flora Gibbs of Gloucester and later bought a house with an attached shop, where he treated and sold leather goods. The couple also operated a catering business out of the house. Hall and Flora had one son, Prince Africanus, born in 1783. Flora may have died in childbirth, as Hall married Affee Moody the same year. Hall was married six times and had one other son, Primus, who was born in 1756 to Delia, a black servant.
Life’s Work
Hall became a respected leader in the free black community in Boston. He saw that membership in fraternal organizations created a network of support and encouragement, so he and some other African Americans became determined to join the influential Freemasons. Hall approached St. John’s Lodge in 1774 but was turned away. Whether the denial was racially based is unclear, but a single negative vote among lodge members was sufficient to bar Hall and his fellow African Americans from membership.
At the time, Boston was occupied by British soldiers, some of whom were Masons. Hall approached the soldiers’ lodge and requested initiation. Sergeant John Batt, leader of the Masonic soldiers, agreed in 1775 to initiate fourteen free African Americans into the order of Masons on a temporary basis—with Hall as master—until the African Americans could be officially chartered through a recognized lodge in England. Until then, the members of African Lodge No. 1 could meet and march in public but could not initiate new members or grant higher Masonic degrees.
The American Revolution began soon after, and Batt and his regiment withdrew from Boston. It was not until 1784, when London’s Brotherly Love Lodge No. 55 authorized a charter, that Hall’s lodge was officially recognized.
Some histories relate Hall’s fighting during the Revolutionary War because many African Americans took up the American cause. There is no direct evidence, however, of his battlefield activities. That he supplied drumheads for a Boston artillery regiment has been documented.
Hall saw the revolution as a potential watershed for African American rights. The rhetoric of the rebellion inspired him, although later it discouraged him. As one of the promoters of a 1777 petition to end slavery in Massachusetts, Hall was disappointed when the Massachusetts legislature refused to act and the Congress of the Confederation rejected it. While Hall was encouraged by the 1783 Massachusetts Supreme Court decision in Commonwealth v. Jennison, which found slavery to be unconstitutional, the ruling did not bring about an end to the institution.
In 1786, during Shays’s Rebellion in western Massachusetts, Hall had additional cause to question the future of African American equality in the state. In a show of patriotism and support for the government, Hall offered to raise an African American volunteer unit to help suppress the rebellion. Governor James Bowdoin turned down the offer, concerned about the possible public reaction to sending armed African Americans to fight white rebels.
Soon after, Hall petitioned the Massachusetts legislature for political and financial support for a colony in Africa for free African Americans. This promotion of a “back to Africa” movement reflected Hall’s disappointment after thwarted attempts to achieve liberty and equality for black Americans. His subsequent bids to gain support for tax-funded schooling for African American children in Massachusetts also failed, despite the fact that taxes paid by African Americans supported white schools. Hall opened a school in his home in 1800, employing two Harvard University students as instructors.
Over the last decade of Hall’s life, he focused his efforts more on developing black institutions and community than on attempts at integration and equality. His championing of black Freemasonry encouraged the development of other segregated lodges, chartered through his Boston lodge. In 1797 and 1798, African American lodges were established in Providence, Rhode Island, and Philadelphia. After his death in 1807, his home lodge in Boston was renamed the Prince Hall Lodge. Other African American lodges followed suit in honor of the founder of black Freemasonry.
Significance
Hall promoted African American rights, equality, and opportunity, and the emancipation of slaves. He opened the fraternal Freemason organization to African American members, creating a network of support and stature for free African Americans in Revolutionary War-era Amerca. Although the revolution did little to improve life for African Americans, Hall did his part to encourage and promote their education and well-being.
Bibliography
Gray, David L. Inside Prince Hall. Edited by Tony Pope. Lancaster, Va.: Anchor Communications, 2004. Written by a Prince Hall Freemason, this book offers the group’s official history and discussion of its development and significance to African American culture.
Kaplan, Sidney. Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution, 1770-1800. Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society, 1973. Provides evidence of Hall’s activities during the American Revolution and subsequent decades. Illustrated.
Roundtree, Alton G., and Paul M. Bessel. Out of the Shadows: Prince Hall Freemasonry in America. Camp Springs, Md.: KLR Publishing, 2006. Traces Hall’s influence and the development of black Freemasonry over two centuries.
Wesley, Charles H. Prince Hall: Life and Legacy. Washington, D.C.: United Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, Prince Hall Affiliation, 1977. Biography of Hall and the history of black Freemasonry.